There are Manchester City players who can treasure memories of Champions League ties at the Etihad Stadium in their seminal spring of 2023, of three matches when they scored 14 goals, conceded none and closed in on the treble. There is only one who will sigh and say: “The night in Manchester, I would like to forget about it.”
But Josko Gvardiol was not present for the demolitions of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. His experience of the 7-0 defeat of RB Leipzig came in the ranks of the visitors’ defence. If many a City player has first-hand evidence of Erling Haaland’s brilliance, none quite compares with Gvardiol’s, the man charged with halting the prolific Norwegian.
