Manchester United took hold of the half revived Hope Globules of the City fans, watered it for the first 45 minutes and then carved through it with surgical precision leaving a tunnel of darkness and despair in every Citizen for whom suddenly all the joy, ecstasy and invincibility of the season has gone up in smokes leaving them in angst and trepidation of the coming month or so.
First, it was Liverpool who battered City at Anfield, thus decimating their hopes of a Champions League fairytale. With a lot of effort and retrospection, City managed to pick themselves up and were in party gear, ready to gun down United and regain the momentarily lost sheen. And the first 45 minutes made sure the fans were stripped of all the negativity and the Etihad party planning committee were busy making the calls.
But a possibly epic Mourinho half-time team talk coupled with a blue-haired Paul Pogba tore up the script, turned the tables and landed a hook, a jab and an uppercut on the Sky Blues.
Yes, City will win the title. But a team playing the best football on the land for 7 straight months have crumbled in the span of 4 days and dare I say, it looks like Pep and his boys are intent on taking things down to the wire and in light of the events of this week, a few naysayers might well be seeing a City meltdown on the horizon.