The magnitude of Sunday's Manchester derby is not lost on either City's Pep Guardiola or United's Jose Mourinho.
While the tie may never take on the kind of animosity that surrounds a Clásico, both managers are undoubtedly aware of how crucial this tie will be in shaping the seasons of the Premier League's expected top two.
Although Guardiola is no stranger to the dark arts of pre-game ritual, he is a veritable naïf beside the less-scrupulous Portuguese.
Discussions regarding opposing players, styles and treatment from officials are a given. Between these two, it has - on more than one occasion - gotten more personal also.
Yet, having seemingly mellowed since the heady days where both men represented Spain's - if not the world's - biggest, most watched clubs, Mourinho has again began to poke at a soft spot of Guardiola's.
Despite the fact that Guardiola began wearing a yellow-ribbon in support for political prisoners in Catalonia, Mourinho has taken this weekend to question whether Pep's political statement is in keeping with the rules:
I think that our political ideology and our political beliefs is something that we have the right to have. I've known Pep for many years, I think I know what Pep feels about his country. To have [politics] in football, I don't know the rules.
If the rules allow us to do that, he is a free citizen to do it. But I am not sure if the rules allow any political message on the pitch. That's just my doubt.
Perhaps a coincidence, but, Mourinho's pleas toward being ignorant of the rules governing political statements would appear a touch unfounded.
According to the Premier League rule-book and FIFA's Laws of the Game, there is indeed a rule against revealing "political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images or advertising."
While Mourinho conceded that he would probably not pursue a similarly public statement as "I think I wouldn't be allowed to", attempting to needle Guardiola in this way - when we can assume Mourinho has no vested interest in the cause - is unlikely to win Mourinho any friends.
Yet, although it is unlikely Guardiola will be at all surprised by Mourinho's attempts at getting under his skin, whether the Catalan now chooses to wear the ribbon again tomorrow will be of immense interest.
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