Manchester City take on Burton Albion with the bigger picture in mind

While the events of tonight may not be written about for years to come, their consequences and ripples will be felt when it matters most

Has a semi-final ever felt less important than this? Manchester City were not in a single semi-final from 1981 to 2009 and yet now they come along so regularly that within the greater Manchester City narrative, they barely register.

City will play eight games this month and this will be, along with their FA Cup home games, one of the least interesting, least tense, least consequential of all of them. Especially after City overcame Liverpool in the Premier League last week, effectively saving their season, and their title defence, dragging themselves back into a race they had almost voluntarily dropped out of.

What really matters, in the back nine of this football season, is whether City can maintain the same intensity and quality that they showed last year. Can they do what no-one has done since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United 10 years ago and retain the Premier League title? Can they finally fulfil their potential in Europe? Winning the Champions League would be a victory for the English game – no English side has won it since Chelsea in 2012 – as well as a vindication for Guardiola himself, who has not even got to a final since his Barcelona side beat Manchester United in 2011.

Which is to say that the most important games to Manchester City this month will be their league games against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town and Newcastle United. These will be the real pressure points as City try to keep up the pressure on Jurgen Klopp’s men. And Liverpool’s games against Brighton and Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and Leicester City might be followed even closer, because Manchester City so need their title rivals to drop points in at least two more games to catch them up.

And yet, despite all of that, this is still a semi-final and a big win tonight will effectively book City back to Wembley for the final. And, having won this competition three years out of the last five, City fans at least will welcome another hit of that familiar feeling, another big day out at Wembley, another chance to lift the cup.

That was very much Guardiola’s message in his press conference on Tuesday afternoon. No this is not the priority, but better to win it than to not. “Winning is important, we cannot deny it,” Guardiola said. “We are in the semi-finals, one step closer to going back to Wembley. We take it seriously. The Carabao Cup is a more local competition. Everybody is happy to win, but no one is sad to go out, but we are here and we are going to try.”

And of course there are the players. Guardiola almost has a full squad to pick from on Wednesday night and while some of the players are tired, there are others who will still benefit from the simple pleasure of testing themselves in a competitive game. City benefited from playing Kevin De Bruyne in the FA Cup against Rotherham at the weekend, as well as Gabriel Jesus getting the confident feeling of scoring once again. Phil Foden made a rare start but played well and scored, and every opportunity City can give to him will be of great long-term value to the club.

When the season is at its most serious, in March, April and May, Guardiola will need every player on top of his game, to rotate into the team, to play under extreme pressure, chasing two of the biggest trophies in football. That is when history will be made and while the events of tonight may not be written about for years to come, their consequences and ripples will be felt when it matters most.