It took Manchester City 14 seconds to kill off Bayern Munich and 14 seconds to highlight why they are such a dangerous proposition in the Champions League this season.
One of the stories of this tie was how much joy Bayern had while attacking at speed, especially so in Munich, but the most decisive factor was City's ability to shrug it off and score anyway. Not a usual trait for them in this competition, it must be said, and maybe one that makes the difference when they play Real Madrid next.
Their meeting with the Spanish giants last season was decided by the finest of margins — Jack Grealish shooting across the face of goal and Rodrygo scoring goals out of nothing moments later to result in a stunning comeback.
This time, City were on the right side of those fine margins.
“It's the details and last season in the semi-final we lived the opposite half,” Pep Guardiola said after the match. “And this time, we were incredibly solid.”
Last week, Ruben Dias blocked a shot from Jamal Masiala and less than a minute later, Rodri crashed in City's opener.
In Germany, it happened even quicker than that. Kingsley Coman had drilled the ball across goal, Ederson got a hand to it, ensuring it rolled across the face of goal – this was as close as Bayern had come all night.
John Stones, two yards from his own goal line, looked up and hoofed the ball downfield. Not much artistry in that, but City's newest and perhaps most lethal threat was loading up.
Erling Haaland won the header on the halfway line and Kevin De Bruyne picked up the ball and carried it forward. A Dayot Upamecano slip later and Haaland had scored for a seventh consecutive game. De Bruyne had set up Haaland for the third time in four games, a total of nine this season.
Haaland had missed a penalty, one of those 'details' that could easily have caused City's house of cards to crumble, especially as Bayern applied the pressure. But as details go, it was nothing more than a minor one in the end.
The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony rang around the Allianz Arena at full-time, perhaps a reflection that the Germans felt they had suffered a noble defeat. They certainly gave their all until the end and on another day might have had better luck.
That is so often the story for City. Real Madrid last season, Tottenham in 2019. To a lesser extent, Liverpool in 2018.
Maybe it is a different tune now.
“In the Champions League, we learned from our mistakes of the past,” Bernardo Silva said afterwards, summing up the one glaring difference between this City and previous versions. “Before, we used to think that we need to be 90 minutes dominating the game, controlling in their final third.
“When you play against Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, you need to accept that sometimes you have to defend and be consistent. You have to work hard not to give them easy chances and that's what we've been trying to work on in the present because in the past we've had a lot of frustrating nights because of that.”
Guardiola struck a similar tone. In fact, his point about the details flowed directly into what he believes has become City's best trait.
“We defended really well in the box,” he continued, “this is the area we have improved the most this season.”
When Joao Cancelo left in January, the world wondered how City would get by with just one senior full-back in Kyle Walker. Fast forward a couple of months and they are not even playing Walker — they line up with four centre-backs, the majestic Stones stepping into midfield and the more rugged trio of Dias, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji scrapping, battling and winning the duels (Stones does his fair share of that, too).
If City's defenders are shining, as they did over both legs, then something has probably not gone well further up the pitch. Bayern caused City problems over both legs with Thomas Tuchel's schemes and the players' ability to put them into practice. They played out from the back and often stopped City from doing so, with Guardiola reflecting that “the 4-1 result does not show what was the two games”.
Even once Haaland had struck what was the decisive blow, City had the chance to kill off the game. Bayern were shocked and City had more time and space to play in, yet they gave the ball up too easily and allowed the hosts to push right until the end, leading to the second spuriously awarded penalty of the night, which Joshua Kimmich scored. Another minor detail, although if Madrid were to exert the same kind of pressure and take their chances, you could say City had been warned in Munich.
Guardiola wanted to make things much more comfortable than that and could be heard shouting to his players to “play short passes!” in the closing stages. But if they heard it they did not manage it.
“The only regret I have was in the game at halfway we didn't have many sequences of passes, you have to make more, more and more passes,” he said. “We lost the ball, simple balls to attack quick, we didn't do that well today.”
Maybe after a period of playing too slowly for Haaland, they are now playing a little too quickly for their own good, but there is time to fine-tune their approach.
“I don't feel better than Bayern Munich at all,” Guardiola said. “Like last season I didn't feel worse than Real Madrid.”
They will surely need to bring their A game for the rematch with the reigning European champions. The Spanish side carry enough threat on the pitch before considering the Champions League voodoo they seem to be able to draw upon at will, not forgetting the mental scars City must still carry from their heartbreaking elimination last time.
But then again, Chelsea caused Carlo Ancelotti's side enough problems, including two clear-cut chances on the break in the first 15 minutes at the Bernabeu last week. Chances that, surely this time, this City side would gobble up.
“The question here is trying,” Guardiola said at the end of his press conference, rather poetically. “It's not winning, it's trying. And the more you try, maybe in the end you are lucky.”
Is this the year things are different?