Watching the penalty shootout at the Etihad from the press room in the Allianz Arena, there was no doubting who the local journalists were cheering on.
And it is a measure of Manchester City’s power that Bayern Munich followers believe they have a far better chance against Real Madrid in the semi-finals than they would have had against Pep Guardiola’s side.
City’s exit was a blip, freakish in its manner, but the law of averages said that would happen at some stage. The wider picture, though, is that the last four of the Champions League does not feature a club from the self-acclaimed best league in the world.
This is no humiliation but, particularly with the final taking place at Wembley, it is a minor embarrassment. And there are a couple of lessons to be learnt from the absence of any English involvement - in terms of clubs, that is - in the semi-finals.
First of all, go back to the group stages when Newcastle United and Manchester United both finished BOTTOM of their Champions League groups. That tells you that the overall quality of Premier League football is not as high as most of us like to think it is.
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Technically, Newcastle and Manchester United were deficient in comparison with other teams in their groups. So many people go on about the Premier League’s strength in depth being vastly superior to other domestic competitions but that simply is not true.
The truth is that it is probably no better but no worse. The Europa League should be the obvious test of strength in depth and English clubs have won only two of the last ten instalments.
To counter the financial might of the Premier League, teams in Spain, Germany, France and Italy (those not amongst the established elite) have to find a way to succeed by working on the training ground and by shrewd recruitment. And a lot of them have done just that.
The Champions League final will head to Wembley this yearBut at the very top, it can come down to fine margins. Let’s face it, it was hardly some sort of victory for the underdogs that Bayern and Real knocked out Arsenal and City. But did the English domestic schedule give City and, more significantly, Arsenal, the very best chance of going all the way?
The answer has to be no. In Munich, Bayern were playing their fourth game in 18 days while Arsenal were playing their sixth game in 18 days. The 1-0 defeat in the Allianz Arena was Arsenal’s 46th game of the season and Bayern’s 42nd.
In Manchester, Real Madrid were playing their 45th match of the campaign and City were playing their 51st. Fine margins but significant all the same.
Do the Premier League, the FA and, indeed, the EFL, do all they can to help their teams in Europe? No. But should they have done better than they did this season? Yes. No wonder the rest of Europe had a bit of a laugh on Wednesday night.
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