It is May 2019 and Europe belongs to a striker called Luka Jovic.
Luka Jovic and AEK Athens will pose a difficult test for Man City on Tuesday night.More Videos
Fresh off a blistering 27-goal season with Eintracht Frankfurt - highlighted by a historic five-goal demolition of Fortuna Düsseldorf and a ruthless run to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals - the 21-year-old is the most coveted forward on the continent.
When Real Madrid win the high-stakes race for his signature in a €60 million deal, he arrives at the Santiago Bernabeu not as a prospect, but as the next formidable number nine in European football.
What followed was a gradual fade from the peak of the game. Overshadowed by Karim Benzema in Madrid, Jovic found himself peripheral, embarking on a path through Serie A with Fiorentina and AC Milan that offered only brief flickers of his former lethal self.
Fast forward to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night against Manchester City, as the UEFA Champions League anthem swells and the team sheets circulate, a familiar name causes a brief pause.
Spearheading the attack for AEK Athens in yellow and black is Jovic himself - a striking reminder of how unpredictably footballing trajectories can unfold.
From Mini Maxi to the Bernabeu
Long before the headline-grabbing transfer fees, Jovic’s predatory instinct in front of goal was obvious to anyone watching. Born in Loznica, his football journey began at the age of five when, after getting into the game, he was introduced to Mini Maxi, a development league for children aged between four and 12.
That was the beginning of a career that rose rapidly, and even after his first game in Mini Maxi, where he scored a hat-trick, his father, Milan Jovic - a former professional footballer himself - was offered €50 for each game his son played, as well as 2,000 Serbian dinars for travel - the equivalent of about £19 at the time.
Shortly after his stint in the youth development league, Jovic moved to Red Star Belgrade in 2005 and spent 11 years at the club but only two in the senior side. Still, the striker played 48 games across those seasons, scoring 13 goals.
Exceeding all expectations and growing out of the Serbian leagues, Jovic was pretty much forced to move abroad, and after a failed spell at Benfica, where he flicked between the senior team and the B team, he made the best decision of his career in 2017: to move to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Jovic signed on a two-year loan deal, while Eintracht later settled an option to buy him permanently. In his first season, he made five appearances in the DFB-Pokal and helped his side claim their first title in 30 years - 12 months on from losing in the final.
Following the aforementioned five-goal haul against Fortuna Dusseldorf, Jovic pulled off his greatest scoring season, in which he netted 27 goals in 48 games to make him one of the most prolific forwards in Europe.
Earlier in the 2017/18, the forward scored against Inter Milan to help Eintracht progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League and become the first German club ever to record eight wins in a single season in that competition.
Although his lucrative move to Real Madrid followed, sustained regular minutes remained elusive in a team that included the likes of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Brief flashes of brilliance still surfaced - a loan back to Eintracht yielded two goals within 30 minutes of his second debut, followed by a respectable 13-goal season at Fiorentina.
In the summer of 2023, AC Milan took Jovic to the San Siro on a deadline-day deal. His spell was a microcosm of his post-Eintracht career, and after taking three months to find his first goal, he was utilised as an impact substitute, averaging a goal in Serie A every 118 minutes.
Yet despite moments of decisive influence, he remained on the fringes - eventually being cut from Milan’s UEFA Champions League squad before embarking on his next chapter in Greece with AEK Athens - where he has since scored 27 goals in 54 games.
Can Maresca overcome PSG defeat and fresh injury troubles?
For Manchester City, Maresca will evidently be searching for a return to European form after his side’s 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium last week, which, without the ruthless first-half showing from Luis Enrique’s side, could have ended in a completely different way.
Having beaten FC Porto on the opening night of the European campaign, City could convey their determination and grit to reach the top eight as the league phase table begins to split the elite from the doomed.
Maresca has done an incredible job of succeeding the iconic Pep Guardiola, who walked away from east Manchester in the summer after 20 major trophies and a decade in charge.
Now, nine wins from 11 games precede this admittedly inoffensive clash with AEK on Tuesday despite their firepower, which could add to Maresca’s dream beginning that has included wins against Liverpool and Manchester United.
Maresca could be forced into major rotations once against after Erling Haaland, Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly, and Mateo Kovacic were all absent from Monday afternoon's training session following a series of injury scares in Saturday's 3-2 win over Ipswich Town.
Antoine Semenyo was also missing, with Maresca confirming that he will be out for up to eight weeks after limping off alongside Haaland on Saturday. Although Haaland missed Monday's session, Maresca earlier revealed that the Manchester City striker remains available.