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I may be accused of being a Pep Guardiola cheerleader, but I’m not having the criticism that he somehow bottled the Champions League. Again.

It’s an easy narrative, I know. He always overthinks the games in Europe, seems to find a way to lose a ­competition where he’s not lifted the trophy for 11 years.

Yep, that is a double-take kind of statistic, given he’s managed Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City in that time – but you know what, it happens.

Pep is in that club of ­managers who have won it twice, including Sir Alex ­Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Brian Clough. Only the great Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti and ­Zinedine Zidane have lifted the European Cup three times.

The point is, football is like history... it’s just one thing after another.

You get games where a team are totally ­dominant, play almost the perfect match to be ­winning in the final minute and somehow still lose. Just ask Bayern Munich in 1999. Or Arsenal, I’m very happy to say, in the 2001 FA Cup Final.

What happened in ­Madrid on Wednesday night doesn’t show you that Guardiola is a bottler or a managerial ­nervous wreck, as I have since heard. It just demonstrates all you need to know about momentum and fear.

Momentum is such a force in the game. It drives you forward and can make you feel invincible, but, equally, it can drive you to generate uncontrollable fear and tension – and both can turn up in a