Fine lines indeed. Had Aguero scored, and had City gone on to break their Champions League duck early, maybe we would not now be talking about a curse but instead a long period of continental domination.

That great City team of Aguero, Vincent Kompnay, David Silva and Yaya Toure seemed destined to convert domestic success into European glory – certainly from the outside. Did that permeate into the inner sanctum of the side?

“It was a dressing room with great individuals and an elite coaching staff and the frustration of not achieving more was evident,” he adds. “We learned from those mistakes but we never felt guilty about not reaching the final. We left our lives on the pitch.”

The sense that there is some sort of higher being preventing City from ‘completing’ football is made even more powerful by the consistent failure of Pep Guardiola – the great Champions League whisperer – to deliver the title he was hired to win.

Demichelis, though, is adamant his former side, who hold a 1-0 advantage going into Wednesday’s second leg against Atletico Madrid, will break the hoodoo before too long.

“In recent years City have been on the brink and the most important thing is that they don’t give up,” he adds. “They have dominated in England and have the merit of wanting to be a better team year after year, and that speaks very well of Pep.

“It is true that he has not been able to reach the podium in Europe, but he is always among the best and being in that group is important to take the final step.”

Demichelis rarely got the credit he deserved in his three years in England so it may come as a slight surprise that he is on the Erik ten Hag path to the top as coach at Bayern II.

The Argentine insists he styles himself on Guardiola but cannot help become awestruck at the force of nature that is Diego Simeone.

“I’m on Guardiola’s side,” he adds. “I like his way of understanding possession and positional play but I love Simeone. He has another idea, but with a convincing power that what he coaches is not improvised. There are other ways of approaching games but it’s his DNA and the players follow him, and there’s nothing more important than that.”

Demichelis may be confident that City will – eventually – win the Champions League but it is the Simeone factor which has him concerned that Atletico Madrid (2022) could yet be added to the scars of a decade of disappointment.