We have seen great drama at this stadium before. When Manchester City beat QPR to clinch their first Premier League title in 2012, we went home and told everyone we had just witnessed the most dramatic end to a game of football between two English teams that we would ever see. A box had been ticked, or so it seemed.
Do we now have to rethink that? Maybe we do, even if this one was ultimately decided by a look at television replays.
It was VAR that brought Pep Guardiola to his knees at the end and that will never be quite the same as the simple sight of a ball hitting the back of the net. It was unthinkably dramatic all the same, though, and it will perhaps take some time for City and their supporters to fully accept that another Champions League campaign has ended short of fulfilment.
Tottenham's Champions League victory over Manchester City delivered a dramatic finale
A look at the wider picture tells us that this was a great night for English football that formed the centre piece of a great week for the Champions League.
Momentarily we should pause and think of Ajax. Last month they had the eyes of Europe on them after their magnificent win at Real Madrid. As it turned out, they were in the spotlight for just 24 hours as Manchester United won dramatically at PSG the very next night.
Now it has happened again, their stunning win at Juventus overshadowed by this breath-taking night of punch and counter punch in east Manchester.
Not that the famous Dutch club will care. They have another shot at glory in a semi-final that we now know will be played against Tottenham.
Ajax's famous win over Juventus was overshadowed by Tottenhaam's European heroics
European football’s stellar competition has been accused of being a closed shop in recent years, dominated by the same faces. Barcelona remain this time but with Liverpool completing the last quartet standing, it is a wide open competition and that is exactly what UEFA’s blue riband club tournament really needs.
This game at the Etihad was simply a game fitting for its time, a time when standards of entertainment and glamour in the Premier League have never been higher. The next time we wonder just why TV companies across the world are willing to pay such vast sums to cover our game, we will look back at this for our answer. This was a contest played under a European banner but it was English fare in
