The first time Pep Guardiola came to a wider audience’s attention, the vast majority of it did not know his name.
He was a slim 15-year-old ballboy who ran on to the pitch at the end of the 1986 European Cup semi-final between Barcelona and IFK Gothenburg to ask Victor Munoz, scorer of the winning penalty in the shootout, for his shirt.
The stage seemed set for Barcelona to become European champions for the first time. Instead, that honour eluded them for a further six years, until Guardiola was a fulcrum of their midfield and Sampdoria were beaten at Wembley Stadium.
Back in 1986, they experienced unexpected resistance as Steaua Bucharest denied them, drawing 0-0 in the final and winning a remarkable shootout where the Romanian goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam saved all four Barcelona spot kicks.
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Three decades on, Steaua present another obstacle to Guardiola's ambitions. The days when they could conquer Europe are long gone. The best they can do, instead, is to embarrass the modern-day superpowers. Guardiola has had seven seasons of top-flight management. He has reached at least the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League in each season.
City have only paid one visit to the last four of the tournament, but it was as recently as May.
Then Manuel Pellegrini departed the club, arguing he had left a legacy by taking City into territory they had not previously charted: first the knockout stages, then the semi-finals.
“The most important thing is that we finished well, qualifying for the Champions League,” he said after his final game, a 1-1 draw at Swansea City.
But that is only partly true. A fourth-place finish left City in the perilous position of requiring to negotiate a play-off.
Admittedly, no English club has exited at this stage since Everton in 2005, but that does not equate to immunity against an upset.
This is an awkward fixture, and not merely because Steaua are unbeaten in 13 games at home.
“Steaua are on the up again in Europe and have a lot of talent,” said City director of football Txiki Begiristain when the draw was made.
Steaua owner Gigi Becali was more outspoken in an entertaining display of confidence.
“We have killers in the team,” he said. “We’ll destroy City. Then I’ll sell [Nicolae] Stanciu. If Stanciu scores against City, his price is €15 million (Dh71.1m)!”
Stanciu is Steaua and Romania’s most-gifted modern-day player, the inheritor of Gheorghe Hagi’s No 10 shirt for club and country, even if, like all others, he does not belong in the same bracket as his country’s footballing great.
There are links with 1986, and not just because Steaua could field an all-Romanian team. Duckadam is now their honorary president.
Three decades on, however, Guardiola has issues with other goalkeepers. Joe Hart has been City’s outstanding player during their five seasons of Champions League football but was demoted in favour of Willy Caballero for Saturday’s 2-1 win over Sunderland.
City are reportedly close to signing Claudio Bravo from Barcelona. For now, the often unconvincing Argentine bears a considerable responsibility.
Another leading figure, Yaya Toure, is the lone Champions League winner in City’s squad but was unceremoniously dropped from the 18-man squad on Saturday, even though two of the midfield recruits this summer, Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane, are not fit to feature.
Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Wilfried Bony, who were all omitted from the squad City had to register for the play-off round, will play no part either, though at least Nicolas Otamendi could recover from his tendon injury to start.
Guardiola’s team are very much a work in progress. And, in more ways than one, progress is the aim.
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