Manchester City supporters may not be pleased to hear that Elano, their new hero, once asked to be substituted because of the cold. They can be reassured that this was not in Britain’s near-zero temperatures; Elano pleaded to come off when with Shakhtar Donetsk because his knees were locking up in the -25C (-13F) conditions.

“Although you would do your best, there were periods when you had to ask to come out of matches because you couldn’t cope with the cold,” Elano said. “It was too hard. It makes you cry. If you stop for 30 seconds, your knees freeze up. There was no point them saying anything to me because I was more use to the team coming out than staying in.

“Because I’m Brazilian, I’m used to 35C, so when you play in minus 25, they had nothing to say to me. People used to ask me why I played better for Brazil and I told them that there I played in the sun and here it’s freezing. You can say that it’s cold here, but it can’t be compared with what it was like in the Ukraine.”

Elano, who played for Santos before moving to Donetsk in 2005, may be sniffling a little, but the chuckles as he watched the effect of his words being translated showed how happy he is in England. “In the time I’ve been in Manchester, I’ve started to talk about being here for ten or so,” he said.

“We can play for a cup and I’m sure that the supporters would be very pleased with that. I’m sure that qualification for the Uefa Cup or the Champions League would make us very proud and I’m sure it would do the same for the supporters, too.”

Elano, who was promoting the new Brazil kit, which is based on the shirt worn by the legendary 1958 team, has been a key man as City have won each of their eight home matches in the Barclays Premier League, and will hope that the hot streak continues against Bolton Wanderers tomorrow, even if the weather remains chilly.