Published: 02:00, 1 March 2026 | Updated: 02:00, 1 March 2026

Pep Guardiola was conscious not to give Leeds United supporters any further encouragement on the eve of this trip to west Yorkshire when asked to name his favourite and most atmospheric away grounds across a decade in this country.

He offered up Craven Cottage and Goodison Park. Easy picks, in everybody’s top 10. But also ventured was Vicarage Road, a slightly left-field option which indicated that he had given the question some thought.

An old romantic, Guardiola said he respected the traditional nature of those places. Elland Road went unsaid but City’s players have been told in no uncertain terms the hostility of this ground and what to expect on each of the four occasions they have travelled over with the Catalan in situ.

So concerned with the fraught plans of his old friend Marcelo Bielsa, Guardiola once shocked his squad into a brutal double session the day before coming here in 2020.

The shock in the build-up to this was Erling Haaland’s absence, an injury picked up during training, and a significant...