It ought to have been over. In previous times it surely would have been. Erling Haaland had tapped in from close range shortly after Jack Grealish, on as a substitute, had broken the deadlock. There were 53 minutes on the clock and Manchester City looked ready to breathe life into their ailing Champions League campaign.
And yet the current edition of Pep Guardiola’s serial Premier League champions have come to lack the old certainties. They are vulnerable to high-tempo flurries from the opposition. The idea for them was to prove they were back, having moved on from that horror run of one win in 13 from the end of October. They had won four of their previous five.
