Following last week’s first leg, conversation around Pep Guardiola’s dinner table turned to Atletico Madrid and the fine art of defending.
The result of Diego Simeone’s plan - to stifle Manchester City, with a formation bordering two banks of five - was deemed a job well done in Spain.
Others, namely Marco van Basten, hammered Simeone’s tactics. Still, Atletico remained well and truly in the tie and on Wednesday night welcome City to the capital with just the one-goal deficit.
Among friends in a city centre restaurant, Guardiola wondered aloud about that narrative, the noise around Simeone.