The narrative surrounding England's run through the Euro 2020 knockout stages is bearing a remarkable resemblance to Manchester City's Champions League run last season.
A talented side with a likeable manager held back by history and painful memories of previous tournament exits. Like City, England should have done better than their last few knockout defeats, but are slowly starting to believe in themselves and rewrite the stereotype around them.
City beat Borussia Dortmund and PSG en-route to the Champions League final, with mature and confident performances not seen in the heartbreaking defeats to Lyon, Tottenham and Spurs.
England have beaten Germany in a knockout game for the first time since 1966, and in 2018 won an actual penalty shoot-out on their way to a semi-final. Such is the belief and confidence now, a semi-final defeat to Denmark, after not reaching the last four of a tournament since 1996, will be a huge disappointment.
But this England team is different.
Just like City, there appears to be a collective agreement in the squad that they won't be defined by the past. England's performances against Germany and Ukraine were comparable to City against Dortmund and PSG in the sense that they lacked the drama and nerves that fans had come to expect.
The fortunes of City and England aren't just a coincidence.
Of the England defence who are yet to concede a goal at Euro 2020 - a Euros record - half are from the City defence who kept five clean sheets in the Champions League knockouts this season.
And three of England's eight goals, including all group goals, are Raheem Sterling's. This is a player who has fought off Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho for an undisputable starting spot. Foden himself played a key role in the first two games before dropping to the bench, and he has added a new dimension to Gareth Southgate's attacking options.
It's fair to say, however, if Euro 2020 went ahead in the year it's named after as planned, England wouldn't be benefitting from City's added experience.
John Stones and Phil Foden would have been on the beach somewhere and not in the squad, while Kyle Walker would have likely been back-up to the in-form Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Stones' resurgence after lockdown has seen him rediscover his form in time for the rearranged tournament, and Foden had an extra season to gain the first team experience needed for Southgate to call him up to the squad. Sterling might have started last summer, but it's hard to see him in the form he is now.
City's Champions League final defeat will still hurt the four England players, but they are all better for the experience of high pressure, big stage games. They know from their last year at City that hoodoos and history are there to be rewritten.
So whatever happens between England and Denmark on Wednesday - and potentially a first ever Three Lions European final - City have played their part. Now it's up to their world class players, along with their Premier League rivals, to finish the job.
