Enzo Maresca is shaping up as Manchester City’s problem solver par excellence, yet at a point when their greatest problems are far beyond his realm. City’s 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain was watched, whether from the directors’ box or the touchline, by the man long acclaimed as the best manager in the world and the one who probably merits that title now.
In a sense, a baton has been passed from Pep Guardiola to Luis Enrique. In another, Maresca is shaping up as a fine successor to the Catalan. A former assistant and a protégé may have appeared fortunate to get the City job, based on a relatively slim body of work as a manager, but some 114 rulings of an independent commission mean his can look a less enviable post anyway. Depending on possible punishments and amid an uncertain future, he may instead be auditioning for other roles.
