Here, perhaps, was a glimpse in to Newcastle United's future.

A side in black and white playing daring, dashing, destructive football good enough to scare the daylights out of arguably Europe's best football team and light fires in the hearts of every Geordie inside this great stadium.

Eddie Howe's team did not win as they threatened to when 3-1 up early in the second half. The truth is they were hanging on at the end against this exquisitely powerful City team.

But that, strange as it sounds, did not really matter. Not on this occasion.

No, this was an afternoon that was all about the thrill, the buzz, the adrenaline and, most importantly, the promise of what may lie ahead.

Avoiding relegation last season was one thing for Newcastle under their controversial Saudi ownership. Two early Premier League games unbeaten this time round was another.

But running Pep Guardiola's champions ragged as they did for a scintillating hour in the middle of this game was something else altogether.

A goal down within six minutes after Ilkay Gundogan scored, Newcastle were magnificent thereafter.

French forward Allan Saint-Maximin terrified the England defensive combination of Kyle Walker and John Stones. Never before has he played as dangerously and effectively as he did here and by the time he had been involved in goals for Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier, Newcastle led.

City being City, they didn't quite see things that way. They scored twice in three minutes through Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva and then set about trying to complete the turnaround in the half hour remaining.

But defeat would have been desperately cruel on Newcastle. They survived a late red card handed to Trippier for a foul on Kevin de Bruyne – downgraded to yellow after VAR intervention – and withstood the late pressure that inevitably came their way.

Newcastle have far to go before they can hope to live regularly with company as exalted as this. A top ten finish this season would represent progress and they will certainly have to defend better than they did here at times.

But here on a glorious, uplifting afternoon in the sunshine, Newcastle offered the rest of the Premier League another way of playing City other than sitting across the edge of their own penalty area.

Early on there was no sign of what was to come. The Newcastle defence gave Gundogan far too much space to take down Silva's chipped pass and the German scored easily. 

Soon after, Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was required to save with his feet at one post from De Bruyne and then at the other from Phil Foden. It all felt rather familiar.

But some time after that, something changed. It may have been the moment Joe Willock turned and sped away from Walker in the 14th minute. Or it may have been when Saint-Maximin turned Walker round and crossed low across the six-yard line a couple of minutes later.

Whatever the case, it became apparent quickly that Saint-Maximin was 'on' and that the right side of the City defence was not.

We know what Saint-Maximin has and does. He is quick and direct. But he is also erratic. It can make him as frustrating to play with as he can be to play against. It is, in essence, why he is still at Newcastle.

Here, though, he was unplayable. Just about everything he did came off and by half-time Walker in particular had the countenance of a swimmer caught out of his depth and desperate for land.

Almiron should have scored when Saint-Maximin supplied him in the 18th minute. Then the Newcastle number ten cut inside Stones to bring a save from Ederson. The momentum the 25-year-old's play gave Newcastle was clear and they were to make good on that with two goals before half-time.

The first – bundled in off Almiron's knee in the 28th minute after Saint-Maximin found him five yards out – was given after a VAR check over ruled a flag raised for offside. 

The second arrived ten minutes later as Saint-Maximin ran directly at Stones before slipping the ball right to Wilson who finished beautifully with the outside of his right foot.

City had created one good chance for Gundogan in the middle of all this but were losing for a reason and that was because they had no control of the game. That's rare.

Pope denied Haaland with a touch on to the post soon after the break and immediately Saint-Maximin broke to panic Stones in to a lunging foul. Trippier curled in the free-kick with his right foot and delirium reigned once more.

At the back, City continued to drown but they do have some exceptional attacking players and they hauled themselves out of a hole around the hour as first Haaland turned in Rodri's knock down at the far post and then, three minutes later, De Bruyne played the pass of the match through Willock's legs to feed Silva who scored from 12 yards.

Fair play to City. This is what champions do and it's hard to see past them again this season. But this was a story that had another resurgent football club at its core.

City passed through this stage of their development more than a decade ago. They know how it feels. Newcastle, at last, are on that very same road and here they hung on for their draw. It felt about right.

Scroll down to see how it all unfolded with Sportsmail's live runner.