It was meant to be a clash of titans, the two best teams in Europe meeting in a one-game shootout to reach the Champions League final.
Last year, Manchester City and Real Madrid shared 11 goals over two legs, and could only be separated in extra-time. This year, City had Real beaten with a half to spare.
Just like in the Premier League, where a neck-and-neck title race quickly became a canter for City, the Blues made the most difficult challenge look ridiculously easy once again against Real Madrid.
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City had arguably been the better team last week in Madrid, conceding against the run of play, and then scoring when under pressure and probably having the better chances to win it. Real and Carlo Ancelotti felt they edged it, just as City did, which means a draw felt a fair result.
There were no risks taken by City, though, who continued their record of drawing away from home in the Champions League this season (they have drawn five in a row since the opening win at Sevilla), and blowing away the opposition at home. Only Borussia Dortmund can say they gave City a game at the Etihad, as the Blues' home record stretches to 26 unbeaten in Europe, including 24 wins.
Jack Grealish says City feel unstoppable at home, and their ruthless demolitions of RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid support that. In all competitions, City haven't lost at home since the reverse to Brentford just before the World Cup, and have won 15 out of 15 at the Etihad in 2023. Make it 16, and the Premier League title will be City's.
In that run, City have scored 52 goals and conceded just seven, averaging 3.4 goals per game. Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid have all conceded four, Bayern Munich had three put past them, and who can forget the back-to-back 7-0 and 6-0 wins over Leipzig and Burnley. Going further back, the best United side in a decade, apparently, picked the ball out of their net six times, too.
Any time a side rocks up to the Etihad hoping to engage City in a 12-round boxing match, the Blues deliver the knockout blow early on. Even away from home, when City needed to beat Arsenal at the Emirates, they didn't make much of a fuss in doing so. Is it really a surprise Arsenal have fallen away knowing that City's relentless winning machine has been up and running since February?
For the neutrals hoping for another final-day title decider, or a tie for the ages in the Champions League, City have had to disappoint. They have beaten the best teams in England and the best teams in Europe by working hard, working as a team and being ruthless when they are on top.
Even when sides like Fulham or Leeds threatened to take a point off them - or, say, Madrid's attempts at nicking a winner in the Bernabeu - City took the streetwise approach and took the ball to the corner, or passed back to keep possession rather than take a risk and allow the opposition to get back into the game.
The big wins are obviously perfectly enjoyable for City fans, who are witnessing the culmination of years of hard work and are doing the Poznan on an almost-weekly basis. Guardiola said the Madrid performance was the result of a year's worth of pain from the crushing Bernabeu defeat 12 months ago. City's commitment to ensuring they aren't in that position again has been brutal to watch.
By the second half on Wednesday, Real had effectively given up. Dani Carvajal said City overwhelmed the holders, and Thibaut Courtois rued City's relentlessness in stopping the Madrid game plan. This was the 14-times Champions League winners, who never know when they're beaten, but they knew fairly early on this time.
It may be an anticlimax for those hoping for these epic battles with Bayern, Madrid or Arsenal - but in the end, City didn't give any of those top-quality sides any hope at all. Isn't that just another impressive quality that has put City closer than ever to the treble?
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