The sight of Real Madrid back at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening will bring recent memories flooding back for Manchester City, and especially Bernardo Silva.
Many considered Carlo Ancelotti’s team the most challenging hurdle in City’s Treble quest last season, but the emphatic 4-0 defeat of the 14-times winners in the second leg of the Champions League semi final was a watershed moment for Pep Guardiola’s side.
It was a masterclass of a triumph and, arguably, the most notable victory in City’s run to claiming three trophies in a landmark campaign.
Having brought a credible draw back from Madrid, as they do tonight, it was Silva’s first-half brace on home turf that swung the tie in City’s favour. The Portuguese midfielder provided the sucker-punches from which Madrid could not respond.
If Rodri was the hero of the final against Inter Milan, then Silva was the man of the hour in the semi final.
“We had that feeling and we still have that feeling that we are very strong at home with our people. The season before when Madrid knocked us out [in the semi finals] at the Bernabeu, we wanted to put things right,” said Silva, whose side are currently 30 European home games unbeaten.
“That performance was a bit of an apology to our fans in a way for what happened the season before — we owed them a chance to win the competition and we did it. This season is a different game for sure.
“They have their signings, we have ours, different form. We are very confident because we play at home but we play the Kings of the competition.”
Although this rematch — at a stage earlier in the competition this time, with the winner destined for a last-four meeting with either Bayern Munich or Arsenal — offers the chance to look back, it will also provide the platform on which further success can be achieved.
Not content with last season’s glut of prizes, Silva believes that City are capable of claiming a historic second consecutive Treble and can become arguably the greatest club team of all time. After all, they are only a possible 12 matches away from achieving the feat.
City lead the Premier League by two points from Arsenal and Liverpool with six games left of the campaign, and on Saturday they face Chelsea for a place in next month’s FA Cup final.
“Of course – it is obviously an inspiration and motivation,” the midfielder said of the prospect of a double Treble. “We know how well this team has done and we want to create that legacy and to do another Premier League to do six in seven years and four in a row.
“And we want to win the Champions League to do two in a row that only Madrid [who] did three in a row have done but no one else won four consecutive Premier Leagues.
“If we can win two trebles in a row, that no-one did, that would be legacy. That is definitely motivation. It’s very difficult as in one week we could be out of all the competitions, but we are fighting for it and going to do everything in our power to be, each day, a step closer to that goal.”
Pep: 'We still have far to go'
Guardiola said that he could not control how his players feel but admitted that they still remain “far away from those hypothetical dreams”.
He added: “When we are in the final of the FA Cup, and (have) two or three games (to go in the Premier League) with an advantage, and in the final of the Champions League, I will start to think about that. But not before a game against Real Madrid.”
The City manager described last season’s 4-0 routing of Real as the highest point of his tenure considering the opponent and what was at stake. The type of European consistency that Guardiola and his team are striving for is what Real are renowned for.
When Guardiola, a former Barcelona player and manager, was asked whether he fears or respects tonight’s opponents, he replied: “I don’t fear them. I respect them a lot, I’ve faced them many times.
“I’m not going to talk great things about them, but to give you my opinion, I respect Real Madrid. And if I say I’m scared of them, I would be false.
“I know people don’t believe me in Madrid when I say good things and when I say jokes people always think I am taking the piss. It’s not about that.
“When I was a player and as a manager I always had a good opinion of the history and the people there.”
Liked, loathed or otherwise, Guardiola and his reigning European champions simply want to be remembered.