It may have been a tricky Champions League campaign for Pep Guardiola’s side so far, but they live to fight another day

The best moment of this game came 13 minutes from time, and will almost certainly be forgotten to history. Savinho brings down John Stones’s long ball with his chest and lashes the ball home, and of course this is the part that matters: Manchester City 3-1 up and safe at last. There is no Fifa Best award for “Greatest Chest Control of the Year”. But there should be.

It was, quite simply, one of the great chest touches. The perfect spot on the breastbone: not too much rib, not too much nipple. Just the right amount of give in the torso to send it forwards, not up or down: the ball not so much cushioned as sprung. Because now the ball is sitting up beautifully, and Simon Mignolet can probably do better at his near post but that’s hardly the first time we’ve said that.

Manchester City ought not to have needed a wake-up call given the situation they were in, not to mention the stakes. Fail to win here and ignominy belonged to them, a Champions League exit at the first hurdle. The longest league table in football history would not lie. And yet Pep Guardiola’s team waited for one all the same, ­sleepwalking towards disaster.

When the half-time whistle went, they were second best to Club Brugge and behind to Raphael Onyedika’s well-taken goal on 45 minutes. It was not just City’s accountants that shifted uncomfortably. Everything was on the line for everybody – Guardiola, the players, the fans. It was sporting pride, reputations, the lot.

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Which is to say there are a lot of teams in the playoff and last 16 who, if they turn up, are capable of beating opponents with more money. I guess the likelihood is that, by the last eight and definitely by the last four, it’s the usual names, but don’t rule out some surprises. No one will fancy facing Atalanta or Villa, while Leverkusen also have a chance.

I may receive heat for this hot take, but none of the below are all that are they? Liverpool are good, of course, but they’re not that good; already this season, Barca have lost to Osasuna, Las Palmas and Leganes; yet they’ve clattered Madrid, who generally hang about until someone good does something good, twice; and so on.