Man City Terrace Talk: A defeat 'made in Guardiola' as Pep scratches that itch again

Of all places, of all times, to tinker with the machine...

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola with the runners up medal as he walks past the trophy after the final whistle during the UEFA Champions League final match held at Estadio do Dragao in Porto, Portugal. Picture date: Saturday May 29, 2021.

If being in Porto sometimes felt like you had been dropped gently into the 80s, with its ancient barber shops, wood-paneled Leitaria (literally Milk Cafes) and its bizarre array of backstreet shops displaying dusty bric a brac, the UEFA Champions League final felt like a throwback too, with legions of paunch-bellied fifty-somethings hauling themselves along the Cais de Ribeira in punishing 30-degree heat. 

At least the ship containers’ worth of Superbock being consumed was ice cold. There had even been a couple of chair-throwing episodes in the old town to make us think lovingly of unreconstructed 1985 too, as the port barges sailed serenely past on the rippling Douro river.