Ole Gunnar Solskjaer built up Manchester United’s quarter-final at Everton by admitting a desperation to lift any trophy. The same cannot be said of Manchester City.
Not in terms of recent history, anyway, and that one sentence delivered by Solskjaer symbolises the shift in power up in this part of the world. City have had their heads patted for collecting five of the last seven League Cups but what some others would not give for just the one.
It is an inferior competition. Obviously it is. One that Pep Guardiola even suggested binning altogether not so long ago, but while that silverware sits on the shelf, he will always scrap to grab hold.