Pep Guardiola had asked his team to at least give the Santiago Bernabéu a fright; instead, they were the ones exposed to a terrifying truth, wearing a haunted hollow look. It is not just that Manchester City’s Champions League campaign is over, a Kylian Mbappé hat-trick sending Real Madrid through here; it is them. The team that Guardiola said was a machine for eight years is no more. City’s manager had said he was lying when he gave his team a 1% chance of going through, and so it proved: it was not even that high.

There was no comeback, not even a glimpse, of one. No epic, just the end. When they scored in the last minute, it was greeted with ironic cheers, this stadium continuing to laugh at them as they had done for some time now. The goal did not matter: the only bad news on a perfect night was the yellow card that means Jude Bellingham will miss the first leg against Bayer Leverkusen or Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid were superb, confirming that they are candidates for the competition they consider their own.