The Premier League champions have a history of successful business with their Champions League rivals
Ahead of their Champions League clash at the Etihad Stadium, it would be easy to suggest that there is not too much common between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
One has the financial power to attract the best players in the world, the other has to sell to try to compete.
One is dominating domestically with four league titles in five years, the other is perennially in the shadow of their country's biggest club.
One has realistic ambitions of winning the Champions League, the other is hoping to go as far as they can and dreaming rather than anticipating European success.
But for all their differences in the boardrooms, on the pitch there are similarities that bond the way the two sides play.
A team ethic and individual talent that see City regularly raid Dortmund for first-team improvements and German scouts regular attend youth team fixtures to spy on the next generation of potential superstars.
Transfer business between the two has often brought both success in recent years.
Guardiola's first signing
The City squad was in need of an overhaul when Pep Guardiola took charge in 2016 but his first signing was an astute move for Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.
With 12 months remaining on his contract, City moved quickly to sign him for a bargain £21million, after talks in March 2016, when Guardiola was still in Germany with Dortmund's rivals Bayern Munich.
The Catalan signed off the move as he wanted an intelligent and calming influence in midfield, that could dictate the tempo while team-mates Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling lit the fireworks.
Tactically, City would be different to Jurgen Klopp's "heavy metal football" he experienced for much of his time at Dortmund, but Gundogan was in the side because of his style and brains, which came to the fore even more under Thomas Tuchel.
A serious knee injury blighted his first season, but Gundogan has grown in influence and is now not only the first signing, but possibly the shrewdest made under Guardiola.
His ability to play in different roles developed at Dortmund has given the City boss extra flexibility and it was his introduction as a dynamic number eight, making decisive runs into the box, that proved critical in winning last season's title in the final 10 minutes of the campaign.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesGreat strikers
Okay, there was nothing special about City's talent scouts spotting the potential of Erling Haaland.
Every major club in Europe wanted the Norwegian international, particularly for a bargain £51m transfer fee because of his release clause, and it was up to City to convince him that the Etihad Stadium was his best move.
His numbers in Germany were phenomenal – 86 goals in 89 appearances – but while Haaland is blessed with natural ability and an innate sense of goalscoring, his all-round game improved under the coaching of Lucien Favre, Edin Terzic and Marco Rose.
"He has better timing, finds a good position, and he's making the right decisions," Rose said last December. "He's taken another step forward, but I'm not surprised by Erling, because he is of course a player willing to learn and tries to convert every little weakness that he recognises in himself into a strength."
And Guardiola has signed proven goalscorers from Dortmund before – taking Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich and describing him as "the most professional player I have ever met".
(C)Getty ImagesBall-playing centre-backs
Guardiola wanted extra resources at centre-back this season with injuries to Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake in a position that he has struggled to cover in similar circumstances in the past.
But it needed to be the same mixture of strong defensive understanding and ability on the ball that his other defenders possess.
Akanji drew comparisons with City's former captain Vincent Kompany during his time at Dortmund so with just 12 months remaining on his contract, the Premier League champions snapped him up for another bargain, this time £15m.
After seeing him close up in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2021, Guardiola was confident that he would be a good fit in his side.
"He is fast and really good in the build-up. We saw this when we faced Dortmund," the City boss said after his signing. “We are glad he is here.”
Attacking full-backs
Barcelona are probably the club that Guardiola will be most impressed with on any CV, so when Oleksander Zinchenko left for Arsenal in the summer, former La Masia player Marc Cucurella was the first choice.
But with Brighton playing hardball and then Chelsea paying extravagantly to take him to Stamford Bridge, Guardiola had to look elsewhere.
Among the alternatives looked at was Dortmund left-back Raphael Guerreiro with the Portuguese international having the attacking instincts and defensive profile that they like.
Ultimately, a move never happened and instead they moved for Anderlecht's Sergio Gomez.
Dortmund had seen his qualities when he was an attacking midfielder in Barca's youth ranks and persuaded him to move to Germany.
He played just seven minutes in the Bundesliga but impressed in Belgium and, at 22, has been given another chance to fulfil his potential that both clubs clearly feel he has.