On Tuesday night, Chelsea and Manchester City faced equally difficult challenges in the Champions League.
In normal circumstances, a trip to Sevilla would be a far greater task than a visit to Dinamo Zagreb however, considering the La Liga side's current form, the Blues were expected to be comfortable victors. What transpired over the course of 180 minutes of European football could not have been any more contrasting.
Thomas Tuchel's team losing 1-0 in Croatia would ultimately lead owner Todd Boehly to reach the perfect excuse for sacking the German manager on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, City continued to move from strength-to-strength with a routine victory over their Spanish counterparts.
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From the outside looking in, City and Chelsea were not too dissimilar this summer. Both teams seemingly backed their managers in the transfer window with the signings they wanted.
What is clear is that while Guardiola and the board were running like a finely tuned machine, Tuchel and his owner were at loggerheads. The breakdown in communication which has been reported between Boehly and his former boss should now be used as a warning to Manchester City.
Despite popular belief from rival supporters that money is the be-all and end-all to success, plenty of other factors go into it too. Currently, City have the perfect system with Guardiola while his partnership with director of football Txiki Begiristain has created magic on the pitch for the Blues.
If everyone is pushing in the right direction, success is nearly inevitable. What Chelsea have proven is that when the wheels come off in that boss-owner relationship, the result can be catastrophic.
Let us not forget that Boehly was very complimentary of Tuchel at one stage but, once the American attempted to get more involved with the playing side of things, that is when problems arose. At City, the separation of powers is currently clear.
Guardiola is allowed the freedom to manage the players how he sees fit with limited input from those above. This trust is essential to how the Catalan coach steers his ship.
If that was to one day change, City could follow the same capitulation as their Premier League rivals. A football club cannot be run efficiently if the owner is adamant that he should take a major role on the training pitch.
Should Sheikh Mansour want to take any lessons away from what is currently happening at Stamford Bridge, the main one should be to continue his trust in Guardiola. Boehly's inability to do this simple task could be to the long-term detriment of Chelsea.
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