The Chelsea centre-back produced a player-of-the-match display to help keep City's powerful forward line – which included league top scorer, Erling Haaland – at bay for the majority of the contest.

Disasi was colossal and led the backline faultlessly as time and time again the Blues repelled attacks on a rainy night at the Etihad Stadium.

Raheem Sterling's superbly taken first-half goal looked to have put us on course for a standout win at the reigning Premier League champions, but Disasi and his teammates had to settle for a point after Rodri's 83rd-minute equaliser.

But despite the disappointment of the late goal, the Blues defender remained proud of Chelsea's performance.

'To be honest, I’m hurting,' Disasi said. 'But at the same time, I’m proud of the performance of the team.

'We played very, very well all together. We showed we can struggle together, stick together, and fight for each other. In the end, they scored a goal and it's a bad feeling, so I’m a bit frustrated.

‘But I want to keep the momentum of the team. We played great and we showed we have grown [as a team]’

While Disasi and his defensive colleagues put in performances of the highest quality, Chelsea also carried a genuine threat on the break – particularly in the first half – and possibly deserved more than the one goal that was scored.

‘The game plan was to try and play against this great team,' said Disasi. 'We know they have a lot of quality but we came here to play our game. We showed that we can play, we showed a good face.

‘And we also showed we can play higher against the best team in this league, we just now have to keep this level.

‘We did have some chances. Raz could have scored two goals, but their keeper made a great save. This is football but I think we can be proud of the team today.’