Pep Guardiola has never known a Manchester City dressing room as good as this as they prepare for another attempt at the Champions League.
The Blues have won three of the last four Premier League titles and are top of the table again, but they have never managed to claim the top European prize with last year's defeat in the final at Chelsea the closest they have come.
City accept that there will inevitably be an expectation on them to win their first Champions League - and Guardiola's first since 2011 - yet the manager is more interested in what he is seeing day-to-day in the squad.
Monday marks the two-year anniversary of UEFA announcing that they were banning City from the tournament for two years, dropping an explosive verdict that led to an acrimonious battle in the courtrooms before the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the decision. City are also returning to the Jose Alvalade Stadium, where they lost in humbling fashion to Lyon in the Champions League quarter-final in 2020.
The chaos of those incidents now seem a world away from the calm, winning machine that have sailed through their season so far and whose only defeat in October was in a dead-rubber game at Leipzig.
Guardiola declared the harmony in the squad to be better than ever before at the Etihad, as was demonstrated minutes earlier when Joao Cancelo described how he had overcome the initial problems he faced with the coach. While the players are constantly fighting for the same spot in the team, the captains and staff ensure that it is a happy dressing room.
"The main thing is have a harmony in the team and fight to keep it as high as possible, the players will do the rest," said Guardiola.
"The harmony is exceptional, thanks to the captains. We know each other well, accept many things, my harmony and respect with them is much better, six seasons, we accept that we want to fight and be part of it.
"We’ve always had it, otherwise we cannot win, but when you arrive with new players, they need time to settle. What I think now is that everyone has between them, the most important thing is good relations and respect.
"Every day they are enemies as they fight for one position, but then they have to be brothers. But that mix is not easy, everyone wants to play and have the respect, it must be made for staff and backroom. If they have the respect the rest is easy."
