Does Guardiola have the drive to rebuild bruised and broken City?

The current iteration is done. Manager must decide if he has energy for exhausting process of reconstruction

- Barney Ronay

Here was some talk after Manchester City's win against Newcastle United last Saturday that City's players had been inspired, freed from their shackles and generally reinvigorated by the club's recent legal victory in a tribunal hearing over certain time-specific aspects of financial regulation.

Could this be true? Are we underestimating the effect of these things? Did the pitch mics at the Bernabéu pick up Nico González in the pre-match huddle saying: "Lads, we've all absorbed the news about the related third-party transaction rules being declared improper. I am as a consequence bang up for this."

Did the cameras detect Savinho whispering: "Guys, we are now free to seek our own definition of market value. This commercial potential is hugely energising. Hit me early over the top."

There will be suggestions that sport doesn't work like this. Some will object that the logic doesn't stand up because Newcastle's players should also have been running on pure, uncut sovereign fund deregulation vibes, equal partners in a joyful 5-5 draw.

Who can really say for sure? In the end, all that really seemed certain at the Bernabéu was that City's Big Tribunal Energy had mysteriously dissipated.

English champion teams have found themselves outmatched in this competition before. Although perhaps never quite like this. The likes of Blackburn at least had the good manners to look confused, angry, ready to do someone.

City collapsed like a rain-sodden cardboard box, with no resistance, no fibre. A 3-1 defeat really could have been anything at all.