The Warm-Up: City saved by Bravo, Barnsley bought by Beane, Mourinho to meet his biggest fan

Without meaning some presumptuous disrespect to either Bournemouth or Bristol City, it would appear that we’re in for an eventful January among the big guns. Should Chelsea and Manchester United overcome those respective hurdles tonight, any semi-final combination with Arsenal and Manchester City (over two highly inconvenient legs next month) is sure to please the sponsors of a competition that suddenly means something.

After all, Pep Guardiola is waiting to deliver his first trophy for City, Jose Mourinho has never sniffed at a bit of silverware, this might be Antonio Conte’s best chance of a medal this season, and Arsenal tend to enjoy whatever they can get.

That said, the first two quarter-finals were hardly cup classics: Arsenal squeezed forgettably past West Ham thanks to Danny Welbeck’s shinner winner, while City were doing something similar at Leicester until, in the 96th minute, Kyle Walker (just about) took Demarai Gray’s bait to gift the home side an equaliser from the spot.

You could almost hear the “oh for f…” from Guardiola as extra time reared its head – 30 unnecessary minutes for either side – and then Claudio Bravo produced some mild heroism in the shootout to see City’s second string into the semi-finals. The odds are that there will be rather more drama there.

We might as well mention the Q word here, even if Guardiola was in predictably full Playing-Down mode post-match. “That is not going to happen. Of course not,” he half-lied when asked about City’s chances of a clean sweep of all four trophies. “Come on, that isn’t real.”

You’ve all seen Moneyball, right? That film where Brad Pitt takes a kid’s softball team and takes them to the World Series (or something). Anyway, prepare for some highly un-nuanced references to that sporting miracle when it comes to Barnsley from now on.

Former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane – who turned round their fortunes with the aid of pioneering statistical analysis, wrote himself into sporting folklore, and gave us a word that nobody really understands – is part of a consortium whose takeover of the Championship club has now been ratified by the Football League.

“Quite frankly, I can’t get enough of soccer”, Beane told the Guardian back in 2014. “I tell my jingoistic friends in the United States there’s a reason why it is the world’s No.1 sport. The rest of the planet can’t be wrong.”

Chinese investor Chien Lee headed up the takeover, along with his new Barnsley co-chairman Paul Conway, with whom he has already made an impact with Ligue 1 side Nice, taking them into the Champions League qualifiers for the first time this season.

“Similar to our investment in OGC Nice, we expect to further enhance the academy, playing squad, commercial operations and fan experience of Barnsley Football Club,” Conway said. “Barnsley has some of the most passionate fans in England and we look forward to meeting many of its supporters in the upcoming weeks.”

Whatever happens, this might be the most exciting thing to happen at Oakwell since Georgi Hristov called all the local women “ugly” back in 1998.

The post-match “glass of wine” has quietly become of English football’s most charming staples. It was popularised by Sir Alex Ferguson and, specifically, whoever would (everyone) and would not (Arsene Wenger) join him for a drop of red in his office after he’d beaten them at Old Trafford.

Anyway, Bristol City manager Lee Johnson is taking the custom very seriously indeed. Will he be hosting Jose Mourinho in his office at Ashton Gate – win, lose or penalties – tonight?

“I hope so. I spent £450 on a bottle of wine! I have had to raid my little girl’s piggy bank. It is being flown in especially from Portugal.”

A bottle of Barca Velha Red 2004, reportedly Mourinho’s favourite tipple, has been sourced for the occasion. With this revelation, Johnson – who charmingly admitted he’s “read all of Jose’s books!” - went into Earnestness Overdrive:

“We have done the due diligence and realised Jose likes this particular bottle that has to be poured by an expert,” Johnson told BBC Sport. “So hopefully he’ll come in and have a little chat with me and I’ll try to pick his brain for five or 10 minutes.”

Let’s hope Jose doesn’t leave him and the “expert” to sit there awkwardly, £450 bottle opened, wondering if their special guest is actually going to turn up. If he does, I already have this image in my head:

Can you really be regarded as a football living legend unless Guinness Nigeria have arranged for you to be flown into Lagos, dressed in traditional royal garb and have fans chant “KING!” at you? No. The answer is no, you cannot.

The former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was presented to a Premier League-mad Nigerian crowd, dressed as Igbo royalty, and pronounced by the fans as “Igwe” (king) of football.

One for the on-screen caption next time he’s doing some punditry on Sky Sports, anyway.

Hi everyone, I’m your dad, and I find the idea of “digital fourth kits” a bit unfathomable and, by extension, unacceptable.

Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus have all had new kits unveiled this week. You can’t wear them though – nobody can – because they’re only available in the fantasy world of FIFA 18. What a life.

Henry Winter of The Times mounts the latest, fully deserved defence of Raheem Sterling, who lots of people seem to hate without being able to explain why.

Following the announcement that 2007 Ballon d’Or winner Kaka is hanging up his boots, here’s a treat: all 104 of his goals for Milan.

The Carabao Cup semi-final line-up will, one way or another be completed tonight: Chelsea play host to Bournemouth, while Manchester United travel down to Bristol City.