Even at their imperious best, Manchester City have seldom had much joy away to Liverpool and they will travel to Anfield on Sunday now with even more reason to doubt themselves after an extraordinary capitulation against Feyenoord. After five successive defeats, City appeared to be on course to rediscover the art of winning.
You have to hand it to the new Champions League format, it has introduced spice to matches which would usually have no distinguishing features. How else to explain Sporting versus Arsenal, a match which pitted second against 14th in the 36-team mega-table, taking a niggly turn?
A seismic evening in the tenure of Mikel Arteta? Perhaps not in terms of the significance of the occasion. But in terms of the quality of the performance, against one of the most in-form sides in European football, this was without doubt a powerful and much-needed statement victory.