Chelsea ride luck against City with extra-time goal

The incomparable against the unknown, the defining manager of the last couple of decades against one who, two days earlier, many Chelsea fans would have struggled to pick out of an identity parade.

- RICHARD JOLLY

And yet if it promised to be one of the great managerial mismatches, it instead finished with the supposed nobody being celebrated by the Chelsea faithful.

Arsenal may want to thank him, too. Perhaps the title race was reshaped by Calum McFarlane. Pep Guardiola has had the occasional unlikely nemesis in the past - Nathan Jones once denied him a quadruple - and the latest was a former City academy coach; when Tijjani Reijnders seemed to have earned the Catalan a ninth win in 10 games, Enzo Fernandez instead came up with a 94th-minute leveller. “Everyone thought we were coming here to lose,” said McFarlane. “No one thought we stood a chance.”

So City may have wished Enzo Maresca had not talked himself out of a job. Instead, this became a triumph for perhaps the lowest-profile figure to take charge of a Premier League superclub, however briefly.

McFarlane is not sure if he will spend Wednesday managing Chelsea against Fulham or the Under-21s against Benfica. But the McFarlane era will not be an era. He had been told when he was made the interim to expect a new manager on Monday. If Liam Rosenior is appointed, his reign might only span a few days, and he could get a return ticket to anonymity, but he will always have this afternoon, this point. “For me personally, it was stuff you dream about,” said McFarlane.

“It is an honour to play against Pep Guardiola. He is, for me, the best manager who has ever managed.”