Centre-back Aymeric Laporte, he indicated, was one of those exhausted by the resistance required against Atletico. But the choice to face Liverpool without Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias or Ilkay Gundogan took his extravagant rotation policy too far, while the replacement of Ederson in goal with Zack Steffen bordered on the bizarre. Without Dias, Laporte or Kyle Walker to protect him, Steffen, the American who had played four matches all season, dithered over John Stones’ back-pass to invite Sadio Mane to pounce.

We have been here before with mystifying Guardiola reshuffles. Why, of all occasions, did he pick last year’s Champions League final, the first in City’s history, as the cue to drop Fernandinho and Rodri, his two linchpins in central midfield? Doubly peculiar was the recall of an out-of-form Raheem Sterling on the left wing, shifting Phil Foden to a less familiar central position. If Sterling was anonymous that night, he was similarly ineffectual with his counter-attacks against Liverpool. He waxes and wanes for City, which begs the question of why Guardiola keeps trusting him to galvanise the team when the stakes are highest.