In one corner it was blue, victorious and ecstatic, in the other it was red, defeated and subdued: Manchester was a city of two tales on Sunday.
For Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, there was joy: pints and inflatable bananas flew into the sunshine at City Square outside the Etihad stadium at 4.20pm when Riyad Mahrez made it 3-1 at Brighton and expectation turned into certainty.
On the final whistle the music blared, 'Blue Moon' and 'We're Not Really Here'. They were readying themselves for a long night - as Mahrez's goal sunk in, the sound of another rivet being drilled into the celebration podium could be heard. Manchester City don't fail to prepare.
Manchester was a city of two tales on Sunday as City celebrated another Premier League win
Manchester United, on the other hand, lost at home against Cardiff as they finished sixth
They are champions again, a domestic double completed, a possible treble awaits at Wembley.
There were 10,000 here, really here, in front of a giant screen. Numbers were limited - Manchester police had another game across town.
But at Old Trafford there were no such scenes. What really wasn't there was the Manchester United staple, tension.
At 1pm it had been 10 deep at the Stretford End where United players enter beneath a photograph of Sir Matt Busby with the European Cup. In a season when the team bus has been late, this was dedication.
There was no tension for United as they went into last day of the season with little to play for
At kick-off, though, there were empty seats and in a strange end to a peculiar season, once again a sense of drift. The team drifted forward. The club drifted sideways.
At half-time, trailing 1-0 to a relegated team, Cardiff City, there was a smattering of boos. United had created a couple of chances and 17-year-old Mason Greenwood had been prominent, hitting the post with a deflected shot.
But overall there a lack of purpose. Cardiff's penalty, converted by Nathan Mendez-Laing, may
