Manchester City's goalless draw with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday will not go down as one of the great Champions League matches, but then it didn't need to.
While Real Madrid were pulling off a remarkable second-leg comeback against a typically self-destructing Paris Saint-Germain, City could afford to take things easy after thrashing the visitors 5-0 in Lisbon three weeks earlier.
City put in a decent showing, never really under threat but never exerting themselves to the point of desperately trying to score. All the usual suspects played well, as did 19-year-old Champions League debutant CJ Egan-Riley at right-back, but it was hard to learn much from what was essentially a dead rubber.
What Pep Guardiola will have learnt, though, is that his number one priority in the summer transfer window should not involve Erling Haaland.
Fernandinho coming in for Rodri was one of the changes Guardiola made to the side that brushed aside Manchester United on Sunday, and the club captain put in a typically professional performance.
At 36-years-old, the holding midfielder is approaching the end of his time in sky blue, although the end might not be as close as many of us had imagined a few months ago.
After a slow start to the season during which he looked well off the place, Fernandinho has looked comfortable anchoring City's midfield whenever Guardiola has decided to rest Rodri.
Against Sporting - admittedly in a game played largely at a slow pace - he excelled, elegantly sweeping the ball out to the flanks and dropping deep to help John Stones and Aymeric Laporte play out of the visitors' press. On a few occasions, he created chances with some sharp through-balls, a clear sign that his timing and understanding of the game is still impeccable.
He completed seven long balls, made three interceptions, three tackles and completed 89% of his passes. Clearly he is still good enough to cover Rodri in these games when City can afford to take their foot off the gas a little.
On the night that Fernandinho became the 44th player in Champions League history to make 100 appearances in the competition, he was also named player of the match.
What the captain offers from a leadership perspective will be incredibly hard to replace when the time does come for him to leave.
"He guides and advises experienced players," Ederson said of his compatriot during Tuesday's press conference. For the youngsters too, he is invaluable; he was in constant conversation with Egan-Riley on Wednesday night.
However, with less than four months remaining on his current contract, no concrete decision on Fernandinho's future has been made.
"We see at the end of the season, he knows it. Still two or three months ahead. He'll sit with the club and they'll make the best decision for the club and him," Guardiola said after City advanced to the quarter-finals.
There has been lots of talk about whether City will target a new midfielder in the transfer window, but really the most logical thing to do would be to offer Fernandinho a new contract. That should be the first move City make come summer.
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