It is a good job Pep Guardiola has got thick skin. The infamously stubborn coach put pride to one side on Wednesday night by handing Joe Hart the Manchester City captain's armband, and it got a little awkward.

City got the job done, of course, and qualified for the Champions League group stage without issue. Guardiola has said this tie was the most important of the season and he will be delighted that the outcome was so clear cut.

But the night became surreal as City fans put on a display of raucous support for the long-standing - but now out-of-favour - No.1.

With Claudio Bravo in Manchester - but not at the Etihad Stadium - ahead of his move from Barcelona, this may prove to be Hart's last game for the club.

Willy Caballero has started the Premier League season in goal and, despite Guardiola's insistence that Hart could remain in his plans, the England international will be shown the door if a willing buyer comes forward in the next seven days.

It is an issue that has split City fans but the battle lines seemed firmly drawn in Hart's favour during this dead rubber.

Guardiola would surely have known that the City fans would take the opportunity to show their loyalty and indeed they cheered Hart's every touch effusively while belting out a series of "Don't sell Joe Hart" chants.

That has always been a divisive song among City fans because many would point out that the idea of selling him was fantasy.

But that is the outcome Guardiola and City now want and it became uncomfortable around the 65th minute when "Stand up if you love Joe Hart" rang around the Etihad, followed by chants of "City's No.1" and a loud reaction when he saved a tame shot.

The noise when he raced out of his goal to make a clearance a few moments later was on par with the celebration of Fabian Delph's opening goal. The cameras, not for the first time, panned to Pep.

Guardiola, of course, will care very little. He has made his choice, it is one he believes to be correct and he will stand by it.

It is understood that he also wants rid of Yaya Toure, but the midfielder was also given the full 90 minutes here. If he cannot be sold this summer he may have to hold on for a move to China in the winter, but playing opportunities - with Ilkay Gundogan set to come back into the team - would appear scarce. Thankfully for Pep, Toure did not provoke the same kind of reaction from the home crowd.

Guardiola has said on numerous occasions that Hart has the ability to improve, but he has also rammed home the point that he is not yet up to scratch. Had the first leg ended 2-0 rather than 5-0, it is debatable whether he would have featured here at all.

The coach, though, does deserve credit for giving a genuine fan favourite the chance to say goodbye. Of his few former players that do not praise his methods - and the vast majority do - the common complaint is that if you do not fit into his plans, you get ignored.

Despite having a good idea of how the crowd would react with Hart in the line-up, he decided to do it anyway.

After all, he probably knows that this - for him if not for Hart - should become just a footnote in the season. With Bravo set to arrive and further ease the squad's transition into the Guardiola way, and Champions League football achieved comfortably, City can look forward to the type of football - and they will hope success - that the Catalan is supposed to deliver.

For Hart, of course, this will be a night to remember, an emotional goodbye to the fans who will never forget the role he has played in City's modern history.

But after tonight, it's all about the future.