Remembering Stefan Savic's time at Manchester City

For many English football fans, Stefan Savic would have been just another name floating away in the mind as a distant memory before Chelsea drew Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16.

The Montenegrin defender had a decent outing in the first leg as the Blues picked up a 1-0 win in the Spanish capital. But Tuesday night's second leg at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 2-0 and Savic saw red, might have brought the memories of his inconsistencies and mistakes on the blue side of Manchester shirt flooding back.

So let's take a good old trip down memory lane and relive Savic's short-lived, lacklustre spell at Man City - Stefan, look away now.

At just 20 years of age, the defender had become a key figure in helping Partizan Blegrade to the Serbian league and cup double in the 2010/11 season, during which he actually had a ten-day trial with Arsenal before a move to the Gunners fell through.

His form throughout that campaign was enough to grab the attention of Roberto Mancini, and in July 2011 the Cityzens forked out a reported £6m for his services. Just over a month after his arrival, Savic became the first ever Montenegrin to play in the Premier League, making a 16-minute cameo against Swansea in an opening day 4-0 victory.

The early stages of his City career were nothing but promising, in fact. In the first half of the season, Savic made seven Premier League appearances while starting in all of City's League Cup games and two Champions League fixtures - always finishing on the winning side and keeping eight clean sheets. He even got his first City goal just four appearances in when he scored the fourth in a 4-0 thrashing of Blackburn on 1 October 2011.

But that's where the good times came to an end. With Vincent Kompany serving a four-match ban in January and third-choice central defender Kolo Toure away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Savic was forced to step up into the starting XI to partner Joleon Lescott.

Although he found himself on the winning side more often than not, it was with the added pressure on his shoulders that made unnecessary mistakes begin to appear. Little glimpses of nervousness and a lack of concentration put doubt in most people's minds that he could actually be a reliable defender.

He most notably gifted Jermain Defoe a goal in City's 3-2 win over Tottenham in late January, while conceding a penalty against Liverpool (who would eventually win the competition) in the League Cup semi-final first leg.

Savic failed to ever feature regularly again for the Cityzens after his poor run of form and finished the 2011/12 season with 21 appearances (many off the bench or being hooked off at half-time), and just 11 in the Premier League - enough for a winner's medal come May, so it wasn't all bad.

His last game for the club would come in the curtain-raiser to the 2012/13 season, coming off at half-time in a 3-2 Community Shield win over Chelsea. The Montenegrin secured a move to Serie A side Fiorentina that summer and became a regular for them, making 108 appearances in three seasons.

Before the start of the 2015/16 season he switched to Atletico Madrid for around €10m where he has been a regular in Diego Simeone's side, so far making 193 appearances for Los Rojiblancos, including a Champions League final in 2016 - becoming the first Montenegrin to feature in the fixture in the 21st century.