Ed Woodward was in the lift and making his way down to the directors' box in Juventus's Allianz Stadium when he bumped into some journalists. "Been an interesting few days," he quipped, his mouth curling into a satisfied smirk.
Woodward did not have to specify what he was referring to. Der Spiegel had published the report, 'Manchester City exposed, Chapter 1: Bending the Rules to the Tune of Millions' three days earlier and Woodward's night was about to get better. United scored twice in the last 10 minutes to secure a stirring comeback victory in Turin.
Uefa showed teeth with City, banning them from the Champions League for two years and fining them €30million in February 2020, but their case was not watertight. City won their appeal five months later and the fine was reduced to €10m.
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Woodward parted with Jose Mourinho awkwardly at Manchester Airport on United's return from Italy. Three days later, City's superiority was immense in the Etihad derby, a 3-1 stroll. Thirty-seven days later, Woodward and Mourinho parted for good.
City reached their first Champions League final last year. United have not made it past the quarter-finals in more than 10 years. The last time United clasped the ear-shaped handles of the European Cup, City were under the ownership of Thaksin Shinawatra, about to appoint Mark Hughes and their seminal takeover was three months away.
Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, was convicted of corruption. Sheikh Mansour, City's majority shareholder, is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, which last week abstained in the United Nations vote on a resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The UAE then voted in favour Russia stop its offensive.
Some have argued City have been a sportswashing commodity and many of their supporters still view Mansour through a tribal prism. It is obvious why: five titles since the breakthrough FA Cup win in 2011, another FA Cup in 2019, and a four-peat in the League Cup. City are expertly prepared to go one better in the Champions League and win a fourth championship in five years. After the Premier League's inception in 1992, United became champions in four out of five years.
Eight years ago, David Moyes was pilloried for saying United 'aspired' to be like City. That is practically advisable now. City have a world-class coach with longevity, world-class players in every department, a specialist technical director and proven chief executive with big club clout from Barcelona, a modern stadium and an enviable training complex that is an Ederson goal kick away.
United? The list of world-class players has subsided significantly since the sunny days of August, the manager is an interim, the football director has his doubters and the chief executive a former university pal of Ed Woodward. The stadium is decrepit and the training facilities at Carrington are insufficient for the men's, women's and academy teams.
United's matchgoing support, be it the quantity or quality, still trumps City's. When they stand in the south stand on Sunday with their club looking up the table at City again and start their repertoire of chants, there will be no hint of an inferiority complex.
A section of the online United fanbase welcomed spurious speculation with a potential takeover by Saudi Arabia for years. The majority of matchgoers were reviled by the prospect. Several concerned supporters contacted the club last week demanding United terminate their sponsorship with the Russian state airline Aeroflot. They did.
However damaging the ownership of the Glazer family is, United have been competitive in the transfer market in almost every summer since Moyes last drove out of Carrington in 2014. The absence of a structure, finalised a year ago and already crumbling, was key. Woodward embraced a Gáláctico model that was the polar opposite of City's recruitment strategy of identifying players for the collective. Until Jack Grealish, City had never spent more than £65million on a signing. It is not a coincidence the maverick Grealish has underwhelmed.
Had United paraded Cristiano Ronaldo at a press conference, as City did with the £100m Grealish, a pertinent question would have been why had a serial winner rejected serial winners and rejoined a success-starved club? Take out the emotion (and Ronaldo is hardly that attached when he repeatedly fails to acknowledge United's travelling support) and Ronaldo's choice was illogical. So was City's pursuit of an ageing goalscorer whose immobility has been an issue since the turn of the year.
City would never admit they were in for Ronaldo out of fear of acknowledging United's pull is greater (it still is) and United cannot undermine their supposedly thorough recruitment process by admitting they only moved for Ronaldo to prevent him from wearing blue. Ronaldo, like Wayne Rooney in 2010, was prepared to join City.
Rooney used his new film to have the last word on his dispute with Sir Alex Ferguson all those years ago: "Alex Ferguson knew where the club was going and he got out of there as quick as he could and they're still picking up the pieces now.” Ferguson's intervention with Ronaldo, understandably lapped up by fans, was as similarly sentimental as his entrusting a fellow Scot whom represented longevity in 2013.
As Woodward served out his notice, he expressed regret at the inadequate set-up Moyes inherited and remarked United were in a 'better place'. Someone pointed out United were 22 points adrift of City at the time - the exact same amount they finished behind them in the Moyes season of 2013-14. The chasm has narrowed slightly but a City win on Sunday would reopen it to 22 points.
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