Forgiven, for his defensive failings. Forgiven, for selling Joe Hart. Forgiven, even for Nicolas Otamendi.
Forgiven for Leicester away, forgiven for Everton away.
This was worth his expensive, painstaking recruitment alone. This is what you can get with Pep Guardiola.
Remarkable game, remarkable stuff, remarkable end, one long night of adventure, weakness and wonder.
Anyone who dwells on the litany of desperate errors is a footballing misery, an ungrateful curmudgeon.
The practical ramifications of this astonishing exhibition of attack and counter-attack is that City must now be the favourites to advance to the last eight thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling, two from Sergio Aguero and one apiece for John Stones and Leroy Sane.
But the only thing you can predict in Monaco is that City and Guardiola will continue to throw the dice, continue to spin the wheel.
This is Guardiola the gambler. Monte Carlo will be his perfect habitat.
He gambled from the off here, committing men forward with a recklessness that was always going to have counter-attacking Monaco licking their lips.
The first goal was a taste of the enthralling stuff to follow, Sane going slalom before exchanging passing pleasantries with David Silva and putting a prod-in on a platter for the narrowly-onside Sterling.
Unfortunately for Guardiola, the free spirit he values in his offensive players streaks through his defensive players.
Free spirit and rank incompetence.
Monaco were frighteningly good on the break, City frighteningly bad at the back.
That’s a combination that clicks open any safe.
The story of Falcao’s equaliser began with a familiar opening chapter, Willy Caballero chipping possession to Fabinho, and ended with a predictable pay-off, Falcao completing a heading formality as three City men formed an orderly audience.
It was shocking.
This Guardiola team, though, has a bottomless well of defensive ineptitude and while Mbappe’s finish to put Monaco ahead and overall performance illuminated his huge potential, City’s contribution was frankly embarrassing.
Maybe they were still chatting amongst themselves about the decision of Antonio Mateu Lahoz to book Aguero rather than award a penalty and dismiss Daniel Subasic.
Whether Aguero trailed his legs or not, it was a stonewall spot-kick and red card.
Agüero has no obligation to avoid a reckless, foot-first goalkeeping challenge that never looked like it had a chance of winning the ball.
Whatever the feeling of injustice, there was still no excuse for the frailty that followed.
It has been abundantly clear for some time that Nicolas Otamendi is hopeless and, unfortunately, John Stones is heading the same way.
If you spend too much time with someone, and all that.
He was as culpable as Otamendi as Fabinho floated a free-kick forward and Mbappe was red-carpeted to his strike.
What followed was tit-for-tat rubbish from the pair.
Otamendi laid down another marker with the reckless foul on Falcao which the Colombian pardoned by passing his penalty into the falling grasp of Caballero.
Stones responded by inexcusably, weakly allowing Falcao to turn inside from a comfortably defendable position.
This time there was no pardoning, a perfect chip red-facing Caballero.
In between those ricks, City had equalised thanks to a gaff that would have graced City’s back catalogue, Subasic allowing Aguero’s straightforward shot to squirm through.
There was nothing fortunate about Aguero’s second equaliser, a meaty, beautifully-timed volley from Silva’s routine corner.
The corner-kick proved to be City’s friend, Stones, of all people, stabbing in the winner after Yaya Toure had glanced on.
City were not finished.
Silva chipped to Aguero, he laid the fifth for Sane on a silver salver.
Remarkable end, remarkable stuff, remarkable game.
