If you'd asked Pep Guardiola after the Tottenham defeat what the perfect scenario to build up to the Real Madrid clash would be he definitely would not have said a postponed fixture and a UEFA ban.
The postponement of the West Ham game because of Storm Ciara brought about lots of questions and while the Premier League ideally did not want teams playing during their winter break the decision by City and West Ham to play on Wednesday night ended up being a beneficial one.
It was 'only West Ham' and it should always have been a formality for Guardiola's side but with everything that has been going on off the pitch and the delay to the fixture it was imperative that it was a strong performance and not just the three points.
“After having the game postponed and the winter break, it was almost three weeks without a match for us. You felt it a little bit, but I think we played a good game overall. There was some rustiness, you can see it in some actions during the game, but at the end it was a decent performance," De Bruyne said after the 2-0 victory.
If City had had to go into the Leicester game with that rustiness and with the pressure of the fall out of the UEFA ruling looming in the background it could have been a different story.
Brendan Rodgers' side sit four points behind City and will provide a much sterner test than the anaemic West Ham side that turned up at the Etihad on Wednesday night. But, the win against West Ham gave the Blues the confidence they need going into a vital few weeks of the season.
De Bruyne was sensational while Rodri was key and the two of them are going to be central to a City victory in Madrid next week while Laporte's return gives a stability to the Blues' defence which has been lacking at times this season.
At the time the postponement of the game and the fixture congestion it could possibly have thrown up was rued but in the end it has given City a huge helping hand in their preparations for Madrid. A chance for the players to let the football do that talking after five days of scrutiny and most importantly to get back into a rhythm ahead of game that is now more important than it was before following the UEFA sanctions.
A tough test awaits on Saturday before Wednesday's trip to the Bernabeu but luckily for Guardiola he has been given a surprise boost that wasn't scheduled and certainly wasn't expected after the way the rest of the winter break has played out.