Ahead of kick-off against Dynamo Kiev, Manchester City fans welcomed club great Colin Bell on to the Etihad Stadium turf.
Widely regarded as the finest player in City history, the gesture was to mark the 50th anniversary of former England midfielder Bell signing for the club, while giving a nod to the past on the night Manchester's blue half broke new ground by reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.
However, Bell's late career was ravaged by a serious knee problem and there was an uncomfortable parallel in the second leg of the last-16 tie as one of City's modern heroes was hit by his own injury curse once again.
Bell's enduring nightmare began when a tackle from Manchester United defender Martin Buchan left him with ligament, cartilage and muscular damage to his right knee in a November 1975 League Cup tie. He was 29 and would not play again for more than two years.
An interview inside Tuesday's matchday programme, one that seemed to tempt fate, featured Kompany reflecting on his maddeningly disjointed season.
"It can be very difficult when you know you are missing out on something that can be so good," he said. "But I am philosophical. Setbacks are part of life and I like to think that my nature means I can rise to any challenge."
City sleepwalked through the remainder of a dour first half, with an similarly uninspired Kiev unable to capitalise on a side seemingly fully aware of their lame duck status without Kompany.
Premier League leaders Leicester City would be unlikely to find themselves 12 points better off than Pellegrini's men in fourth had his defensive lynchpin managed to string a sustained run of games together.
This throws up the once unfathomably possibility, on the night they moved into the Champions League last eight, that City will find themselves absent from next season's competition altogether.
If West Ham beat Chelsea on Saturday, City would start Sunday's derby against Manchester United in fifth place. They could be without Kompany's first-choice partner Nicolas Otamendi - another injury victim on Tuesday.
A defeat would leave them a point above United and with a resurgent Liverpool breathing down their necks. One win from the past five top-flight matches suggests they do not have the platform of confidence to recover from such a setback.
Pellegrini was supposed to be keeping the seat warm for Pep Guardiola's much trumpeted close-season arrival from Bayern Munich, laying a seamless transition on a plate.
