The Warm-Up: Alan P45dew, De Bruyne backs himself and Juve brace for Ronaldo impact

Legend has it that Alan Pardew is no stranger to entering exclusive clubs, but this latest one contained just three other managers: only Remi Garde, Rene Meulensteen and Joe Kinnear had ever been hired to save a Premier League team from relegation and then sacked before the season had ended.

The semi-myth of the New Manager Bounce was already on life-support, but Pardew’s particular brand of immediate upturns has now taken a fatal blow. Whatever his next job – and it could well be alongside West Brom in the quicksand of the Championship, if he’s lucky – his magic (an acquired taste at best) has clearly gone.

Sifting through the rubble of his Hawthorns reign – if that’s even the word – there are few redeeming features to mitigate against the infamous Barcelona trip, the treatment of younger players, the tactical confusion and, most of all, the results.

Yesterday’s Warm-Up included some hyperconfident words from Kevin De Bruyne on how Manchester City had crushed Everton into submission at Goodison Park, and he went on to address the subject of the Player of the Year award, for which his only rival is Mohamed Salah.

De Bruyne – a man who wears the permanent expression of a man who still isn’t satisfied with being absolutely brilliant – allowed himself a brief moment of laurel-resting.

“Well, if I get it, it would be nice I think for the team and for me. In one way I believe I deserve it, because I have been very consistent in my form. I am very happy with myself, I am very pleased with how I have played, I didn’t expect to be this good this season, to be honest.

“I think there is almost no game where my standard has dropped, so I have been very constant, and I am very happy with myself. To maintain the level the amount of games I have played, the amount of minutes, I am very pleased with that.”

“I have watched the Cardiff final several times,” Massimiliano Allegri said, revealing one of the less enjoyable aspects of being an elite-level football manager.

Those arduous repeat viewings will have paid special attention to Cristiano Ronaldo, scorer of two goals for Real Madrid against Juventus that night, and of a frankly silly 21 in his last 11 games.

“A special tactic to stop Ronaldo? The defenders must be good but I want to congratulate him for how he changed his style completely in his 30s. It’s not easy to do what he did.”

Alright, so his career essentially went off a curious cliff some time in 2014, and the only way was down after winning major tournaments with Spain and Champions Leagues with his beloved Real Madrid, but Iker Casillas – still only 36, by the way – is still hanging in there.

Landmarks are ten-a-penny these days – you can’t move for someone breaking some sort of convoluted record or another – but there’s something fundamentally impressive about racking up 1,000 games.

The winners of 19 of the last 21 Greek titles – including eight league-and-cup doubles – are in a right old state. That’s right, they’re third.

A 1-1 draw against Levadiakos at the weekend left Oscar Garcia’s side six points off the leaders AEK with four games left, and the owner is taking it well.

“You will leave today and go on holiday,” continued the rather generous Marinakis – who also owns Nottingham Forest – who obviously isn’t keen on Europa League football next season.

The making of Ederson, Manchester City and Brazil’s thoroughly offensive goalkeeper, is given a solid write-up in the Guardian by Caio Carrieri.

Here’s a weird one: on this very day in 1990, world champions Argentina continue their preparations for Italia ‘90 with a run out against Northern Irish titans Linfield at Windsor Park. No Diego Maradona in sight, but the Argentines were sporting a very nice one-off kit…

The Champions League quarter-finals: Sevilla try and stop Bayern Munich and Juventus look for the upper hand against Real Madrid in their respective first legs. Could be fun.