Big Joe: Hart inspires memories of club legend from City's greatest European night

On the finest European match in the history of Manchester City, goalkeeping great Joe Corrigan swatted away the efforts of Gornik Zabrze for his side to carve out a nervy 2-1 win. It secured the 1970 Cup Winners' Cup at a rain-soaked Praterstadion in Vienna.

If City is to progress beyond Real Madrid into the Champions League semi-final, Joe Hart should deserve the same credit the old "Big Joe" received nearly 46 years later to the day. He has been pivotal in this inaugural run into the tournament's final four.

The 29-year-old was again an imposing presence between the sticks in Tuesday's 0-0 home draw, this season shunning former questions over his concentration and attitude and guiding his club past first Dynamo Kyiv and most impressively, stymieing Paris Saint Germain's attack in the quarter-final second leg on April 12.

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An away goal toward the end of the first bout with Real Madrid would have been damaging, but Hart stood firm:

His speed of thought and movement is a credit to a fine sporting and educational background. A former head boy at Meole Brace school and a talented cricketer, Hart's decision to focus on football was made when, at 15, he began to appear on the substitutes' bench for his local side Shrewsbury Town.

Three seasons later, he played every match of Salop's fourth-tier campaign, outings which saw City manager Stuart Pearce and goalkeeping coach Tim Flowers regularly occupy seats in the Gay Meadow's east stand to watch a teenager who patrolled the back and eyed balls to the wing like a continental sweeper. This was a real talent, and the Blues were set to pounce.

At a mere £600,000, Hart stands as one of City's finest pieces of business in the past 10 years. After a superb season on loan at fellow Premier League outfit Birmingham City in 2009-10, the 23-year-old won a place ahead of Shay Given in goal, and the 133-time Ireland international was one of many rightly impressed by Hart's exploits on Tuesday.

The suggestions that Pep Guardiola will find a goalkeeper not to his liking in Hart are outrageous. The 57-time England international is confident in possession but not erratic - a criticism that can be charged at the Spaniard's current goalkeeper at Bayern Munich, Manuel Neuer - and strikes the ball better than many of his outfielders if his penalties are anything to go by.

There are to be wholesale changes at the Etihad Stadium upon Guardiola's arrival, and an improvement on second-choice Willy Caballero is needed. Hart, however, cannot be usurped as No. 1 - even if it's Neuer or, should reports be proved correct, Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen competing for a place.

The parallels with City's successes of the past could extend beyond the "Big Joes." Rainfall is forecast later this week in the Spanish capital, and like Mike Summerbee in 1970, City will be missing its tenacious trickster David Silva for the second leg.

Considering that Cristiano Ronaldo was sidelined, a 0-0 draw on home soil could be deemed a missed opportunity. Zinedine Zidane may have to revisit the drawing board, though, and find ways to trouble Hart. City won't be changing its game plan.

"I don't think Real are favourites. They have the advantage of playing away first - but we play the same way away as at home," manager Manuel Pellegrini said post-match.