The way they had spoken about the prospect of Erling Haaland running out at the Bernabeu last night made it seem as if Manchester City were bringing with them a warrior from the Dark Ages to take down Real Madrid.
The language and the images that the Spanish newspapers used on Tuesday morning spoke of a ‘monster’, an ‘ogre’ and ‘a machine’. It felt as if there was fear in the anticipation and the characterisation. The Norseman was coming. Lock up your homes. Build a wall across your goal line.
AS mocked up City’s centre forward as a Terminator on the rampage, one eye blaring red, his mouth open in a scream of rage.