Matt Maher: Football is still a funny old game – just ask City and RB Leipzig

Was it shock at a result which ranked among the most unexpected of the season?

Was it disappointment at the failure of any English representative to reach the last four of Europe’s premier club competition?

Or was it, like me, laughter? Before we go any further and in a bid to halt a stream of angry letters, I should point out the mirth was not caused by any particular feelings of dislike, or otherwise, for City.

Instead it was prompted by the reassurance that no matter how much money might be spent in pursuit of glory, football’s ability to kick a club right where it hurts can never be tamed.

The Abu Dhabi group have used endless resources to transform City since 2008. They have brought in the man considered by many to be the world’s best manager and have players who would grace any team on the planet.

Yet the prize they really want continues to elude them. Considering the outlay, City’s Champions League record is close to lamentable. They are yet to even reach the final, while last weekend’s defeat, to a Lyon team coming off the back of their worst domestic campaign for years and who had barely kicked a ball for five months, must rank among their worst defeats?

Football eh, Pep? Just what can you do?

Still, any amusement at City’s exit was gone by the time Paris St Germain faced RB Leipzig in Tuesday’s first semi-final.

Just like City, PSG are backed by a Gulf state with an abhorrent human rights record, who have spent fortunes on making them the dominant team in France.

European success has also proved elusive yet this might prove to be their year after a comfortable 3-0 win over RB saw them book a place in Sunday’s final.

The latter’s defeat, meanwhile, was cause for celebration and doubtless much amusement in many parts of Germany where they are despised for riding roughshod over the Bundesliga’s ownership rules which typically provide supporters with a big say in how their club is run.

RB, by contrast, are seen as simply a marketing tool for the energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which has funded the club’s rise from obscurity to Champions League challengers.

The fact money always talks eventually makes those occasions when it doesn’t even more delightful.