Manchester City put in a strong performance at Porto with Enzo Maresca getting all of his selection calls right during the game

There were knives waiting to be sharpened for Enzo Maresca and Manchester City in Porto. The Stadio do Dragao is no place for weak men and the Blues are fighting to show that they can still be strong without the genius of Pep Guardiola.

Fortune had not favoured Maresca in a new Champions League format where the scramble to get the 16 or so points needed to secure a top-eight spot begins in the very first game. City have statistically one of the hardest set of fixtures out of the 36 teams involved and that included their opener, where Porto hadn’t lost in their stadium in nine months and had only lost one of their last 14 European games there.

Anything but three points would have added pressure on ahead of the second game – when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain come to the Etihad. City usually fancy themselves against anybody at home but opposition does not come any harder than a Luis Enrique side that has gone back to back in the Champions League.

Had City drawn, or especially if they had lost, the PSG match would have felt critical. The nature of the first phase, where 16 points has been required in both years so far to get a top-eight spot, means that only eight points can be dropped across eight games to avoid a play-off.

City dropping at least four in their opening two would have been problematic for Maresca in his attempt to herald a new era for City after Guardiola, putting him under immediate pressure to be almost flawless for the remainder of a schedule that still includes tricky trips to Leipzig and Barcelona.

They may still drop three against PSG, but the impressive win over Porto on Tuesday night has allowed the new City boss to flip the script. He has carved out some breathing room already, and now has a home game where City can make a statement against one of the best sides in Europe.

Guardiola’s logic with the Champions League changes was to focus on winning the four home games and then try to pick up what they could away from home. The first attempt came in the midst of the biggest crisis for a team that was on its way out though, and while it worked the second time things could have been very different if not for that awful 2-0 defeat at home to Leverkusen.

Maresca will have looked at his first two fixtures and immediately signed up for an offer of four points from them, but having already secured the bulk of that there is the chance for even more. Two of the next three games after PSG are also at home and against some of City’s weakest opponents – AEK Athens and a Napoli side that do not travel well in this competition.

A trip to Barcelona follows in December before games away to Lens and at home to Sporting in January, and the Porto win gives the Blues a springboard to put themselves in a position to reach that important points marker of 16 before Christmas. At the very least, it should take the pressure off needing a result against Rodri at Camp Nou.

That is still a long way and several results away, but the Porto result means City can relish the PSG match as one where they can take a significant stride towards clearing the first European hurdles laid out for them.

Having that feeling ahead of the first Manchester derby of the season is no bad thing either as Maresca’s impressive start at City continues.