It's less than a month since Pep Guardiola said that "perfection doesn't exist in football". At half-time at the Etihad on Wednesday around 50,000 Manchester City supporters would have disagreed with him, for once.
This was City scaling heights that might have felt unimaginable, but in truth, they've also felt like it's been coming. Guardiola's side have spluttered through much of this season, searching for something, lacking an edge, too many "happy flowers". Suddenly, they've come alive.
The only flowers they should be seeing now are the ones thrown onto an arena after those present have witnessed majesty. This was football in its purest form. It was breathtaking. It deserved the garlands.
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Real Madrid have been Europe's dominant club for a decade. They won last season's Champions League on the strength of their legend alone. But they were reduced to rubble at the Etihad, grasping for thin air, outplayed man for man.
It's too early to be talking of a changing of the guard. City need to actually go and win this competition first, although the celebrations in the blue and black half of Milan probably came to a shuddering halt last night, but the question shouldn't be can they win the Champions League under Guardiola. On the quality of this performance, it should be how often can they win the Champions League under Guardiola?
It's been a long time coming, but maybe this was the breakout night in Europe for this team. They reached the final two years ago but they saw off Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals behind closed doors. This was a different night against a different team. They say that Real Madrid never die in this competition, but they never even lived at the Etihad.
The first half was the kind of performance you could watch back three or four times and still be finding something fresh to marvel at. When Szymon Marciniak brought Real's 45 minutes of hell to a close the stats told the story. City had 72% possession and 13 shots to one.
City actually went backwards to go forwards. In the first 40 seconds, they retreated all the way to Ederson and built play from there. It was the last time the goalkeeper would see the ball for a long time.
The Blues were good for 10 minutes and then unstoppable for 35. Watching live it felt like there was a spell of 15 to 20 minutes when Real Madrid - the Real that have reached 11 Champions League semi-finals in 13 years and have a combined 29 winners' medals - didn't get of their own half.
They were suffocated by a whirring blue machine of brilliance. When they threatened to get out they were swamped by Rodri, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan. When they defended they were left spinning by the movement and the patterns of Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and rendered powerless by the physicality and the mysticism of Erling Haaland.
It felt like the kind of football that Guardiola's Barcelona teams used to put together. It was breathtaking in its intensity and its ingenuity. The perfect mix of bravery and bravado, brains and brawn. Real just couldn't live with it.
When Bernardo finally breached the dam a quarter of the way through the game it led to a debrief on the pitch, but it didn't change anything. Carlo Ancelotti stood on the touchline, stroking his chin and patting his fingers against his face, equal parts bemused and bewitched.
This was the full catalogue of Guardiola's genius. There was the central defender at left-back who cost just £15million in the summer. The Barnsley-born central defender running the show in midfield against Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Everywhere you look in this team there are players that Guardiola has made better.
It took Grealish a while to get his methods, to become attuned to what the Catalan wanted. But the penny has dropped this season and he has learned to deal with the pressure. His pass was vital to the second goal, converted again by Bernardo after Thibaut Courtois - who was world-class - saved from Gundogan.
The second half didn't quite hit the same heights. Real grew into the game but they were kept at arm's length. Kyle Walker, told he couldn't fit into this system not long ago, bossed Vinicius. A team so often found out in both boxes in this competition won every individual duel and Akanji sealed a trip to Istanbul before Julian Alvarez put the chef's kiss on a dish to remember.
If City win one more game in the Premier League and win the FA Cup final, then it could be Turkish Delight on June 10. They are three wins away from the treble. They've never been this close, but on the evidence of Wednesday night, they've never been this good.
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