I saw Kalvin Phillips star in Barcelona for Man City before it all went wrong

It was an emotional and exceptional night at the Camp Nou in August 2022 as Barcelona hosted Manchester City.

Taking part in a friendly once the season was already underway went against all of Pep Guardiola's concerns about player welfare, yet he had jumped at the chance to celebrate and raise awareness of motor neurone disease in an evening dedicated to his former colleague Juan Carlos Unzue as he battled with the illness. More than 90,000 people turned up to the fundraiser and Guardiola was proud that City were invited to help.

From a footballing perspective, City managed two days at Girona building up their intensity and used the friendly to give opportunities to players that hadn't featured prominently. It was an evening where Rico Lewis showed he had the temperament to play in front of big crowds - that would become important as Lewis proved an unlikely catalyst for City winning the Treble - and also a night that went very well for new signing Kalvin Phillips...until it unravelled.

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Making his first start for his new club after injuries, Phillips looked good in the holding midfield role that he was earmarked to play to provide cover for Rodri as he settled into the demands that Guardiola wanted from the position. After suffering a blow to his shoulder around the hour mark though, he signalled to the bench that he needed to come off immediately.

It was feared to be a recurrence of the same injury that had plagued the England international at Leeds - and it was - but City initially thought it would be fine. He returned to action in September, only for