Although Man City had conceded after just four minutes, their morale was barely affected. They continued launching fierce attacks against Villarreal and maintained firm control of the match.
The Man City of today was no longer the ragtag group of mercenaries they had been more than a year ago.
This was a Man City that had won the treble and then defeated the Champions League winners, Barcelona, in the European Super Cup.
Even in the Champions League group stage, Man City had been able to bring powerhouses like Dortmund and Inter Milan to their knees. The team's confidence had received a tremendous boost, making it impossible for them to collapse after a single blow from their opponents.
As for the goal they had just conceded, it had mostly been David Luiz's mistake. Courtois had decisively rushed out and blocked the first shot, and he had even come close to stopping the second. His performance had been commendable.
David Luiz's problem had been unexpected to everyone, yet understandable.
Guardiola liked his dribbling, passing, and ability to make late runs into the attack. His somewhat rash mistakes were naturally well known to his teammates, and many times, they had already prepared themselves mentally for them.
In the dressing room, his teammates often brought up those incidents to tease him.
Of course, there was one prerequisite: the team had to be able to turn the match around.
If they came back to win, it was all a joke. If they lost, that was another matter entirely.
Marcelo had a very close relationship with David Luiz. Both were starters for the Brazil national team, and seeing David Luiz's mistake lead to the team's conceding, Marcelo became unusually agitated and played with extraordinary ferocity.
In the twelfth minute, Marcelo pushed into Villarreal's thirty-meter area and