Manchester City achieved a Champions League first as their comeback win over Dinamo Zagreb ensured their most complete group stage performance.
Fourteen points from six games does not represent their best ever tally — they have hit 15 twice — but this is the longest the Blues have gone in the competition without tasting defeat.
At the same time, expectations are probably at their lowest since Pep Guardiola's first season in charge when he was still getting used to the English game.
For the last two years, their dominance in European groups has been accompanied by prolific form domestically as they have gone on to record the two highest point totals in the history of the Premier League as well as hoovering up cups.
As they make their way to another last 16 draw, the aura of invincibility has been shattered by stuttering form that leaves them at least 14 points off where they want to be for their aim of winning a third successive title.
Discussing the prospects of the four English teams, the BT Sport pundits were not sold on the team that have been the bookies' favourites in the Champions League for the last few years despite having never reached a final. Rio Ferdinand praised Liverpool's mentality for getting over the line while Peter Crouch summed up City's issues.
Guardiola said similar after the derby when it was put to him that not being in a title race could actually help them in the Champions League — a point that does have merit but is irrelevant for all the games over at least two months before the knockout rounds begin.
The fact that Real Madrid and Atletico are the two likeliest clubs City can draw in the last 16 adds to the new sense of difficulty.
For the Blues at least, any lack of expectation can only be a good thing. The manager has spoken before of how hard it is for the players when everyone sees success as a given — such as the second half of the Centurions campaign — while he has borne the weight of winning two Champions Leagues in his first three years as a coach ever since.
Even if City are no longer seen as the team to beat, they will feel confident that they can beat anyone on their day if they play to their potential.
With the fine margins that make such a crucial difference in the Champions League, a dip in expectation on the squad doesn't seem a bad thing.
