Published: 15:00, 22 October 2025 | Updated: 15:00, 22 October 2025

In deep conversation with Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Pep Guardiola left Estadio de la Ceramica down a narrow corridor which spilled out onto the street.

Carrer Blasco Ibanez was lined with Villarreal fans hollering at the City team bus, which drove past a bar named Tiki Taka as it ferried Guardiola’s team back to their hotel after another job well done.

Tiki taka is a term City’s manager abhors, insistent that it describes keeping the ball for keeping the ball’s sake, rightly arguing that none of his sides have ever done that.

But while the bright neon sign that Guardiola's players glanced at through the windows of their bus does not entirely encapsulate the new City, there are certainly signs they are returning to some fundamentals of their play. More incision in possession and a stronger spine – aided greatly by the form of Gianluigi Donnarumma and Erling Haaland at both ends of the pitch.

It would be wrong to say that City are properly back - and...