Pep Guardiola has been told by football fans up and down the country that he will be sacked in the morning amid Manchester City's alarming slump.
He hasn't enjoyed those cries one bit, and on Wednesday in enemy territory he suffered further embarrassment. As Real Madrid treated the great modern rivalry of recent years as an exhibition match, a gleeful Bernabeu sang for the City manager to stay.
It is now three exits in four years in the Champions League at the hands of his arch-rivals, and even if he said this one didn't feel as bad because City hadn't been the better time, that won't make this morning any easier. After such a tame defeat, Guardiola left the Bernabeu telling reporters that his team had been the better side in the previous three years and set the level for others to aspire to.
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"It's good for us - for the organisation, for the club - to see the level of our opponents to see what we have done," he said. "We were the benchmark for many years in England and even in Europe and a lot of teams tried to say 'Ok, this is the level'.
"It was a question of time because nothing is eternal. We drop a little bit and we have to accept it and move forward and improve."
If those words felt like a defence of what City have achieved - Guardiola was asked in his press conference by a Spanish reporter why their Champions League record did not stand up to their domestic success - it was also a message to his bosses that there is a new benchmark. For the first time in years, there is work to be done to follow never mind lead, and the gulf between City and any good team this season would suggest there is a lot of it.
The board have already backed the manager, first with a new contract during the horrendous run of results this season and then with £180m in January to kickstart a rebuild. Three of the four signings could be registered for the Champions League play-off and all three started at the Bernabeu as they had a few days earlier against Newcastle when all had impressed.
Guardiola is not staying in Manchester to oversee the end of an empire or managed decline, and that means more strengthening of the squad in summer. It should not need too many more players given the average age has been significantly lowered, but this week showed that there is more to do.
City can rightly be proud of their achievements over many years, but they have been warned what will happen if they do not react to the club's new position in English and European football.
