Is this, finally, Manchester City’s date with destiny?
The time when the Abu Dhabi project gets its hands on club football’s greatest prize at last and Pep Guardiola is reunited with the European Cup for the first time since leaving Barcelona 11 years ago?
Winning the Champions League always felt like the remit Guardiola was handed upon his arrival in Manchester seven summers ago and while five Premier League titles, four League Cups and two FA Cups is a hell of a haul, it is a task which remains unfulfilled.
Such is City’s apparent desire to land the big one there was a feeling they would have sacrificed other goals to achieve their aim this season.
However, in the end, if they do beat Inter Milan in Istanbul tomorrow night, the club’s first Champions League title will be the crowning glory in a historic Treble.
Guardiola’s men are firm favourites against an Inter side who were third in Serie A, 18 points behind champions Napoli.
But it was Chelsea who scored the only goal of the game.
As if fearful of firing blanks again, Guardiola has added a 50 goals-a-season striker to his ranks in Erling Haaland – but City are no one-man team.
Guardiola’s side boast dangermen all over the park and none look short of form. The time, surely, is now.
