It could have been Marcus Rashford who sneaked in and won a late penalty at the Etihad. It could have been Rashford who raced onto Lisandro Martinez's pass in the 90th minute to score a dramatic winner for Manchester United.
But Rashford wasn't even in the stadium when Amad Diallo led United's sensational late comeback to win the 195th Manchester derby.
He sat at home in Cheshire reflecting on the latest wrong turn in a career that is now in danger of seriously falling short of expectations.
The bitter irony is that days like these should be made for Rashford: the boy from Wythenshawe who rejected City to join United and become a hometown hero.
And there have been days like this. The day in January 2023 when he scored a late winner to complete another 2-1 comeback win for United amid frenzied scenes at Old Trafford; or December 2019 when United won by the same scoreline at the Etihad and he scored another of his six career goals against City; or that fantastic pass at Wembley in May that led to United's second goal as they shocked City in the FA Cup final.
However, as Pep Guardiola's side were left defeated and dazed yesterday (Sunday), Rashford was nowhere to be seen.
Ruben Amorim insisted the decision to remove him and Alejandro Garnacho from the squad was not for disciplinary reasons, but it certainly felt that way when United's new head coach addressed his concerns.
“Next week, next game, new life,” Amorim said, offering a quick route to redemption. “They fight for their place, but for me it's important: the performance in training, the performance in the match, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you treat teammates, the way you pushes your teammates.
“It's the small details, but there are a number of things that need to change.”
It came at the end of a week of renewed speculation over Rashford's future at United, amid concerns about his lifestyle. It is almost two years since he scored 30 goals in Erik ten Hag's first season, earning a £315,000-a-week contract and becoming the club's second-highest earner after Casemiro.
Since then, only fifteen more goals have been scored. He is no longer an automatic choice for the England squad. At the age of 27, he is no longer a boy. We shouldn't talk about potential anymore. Or body language or lifestyle.
Erik ten Hag tried to keep Rashford on track and disciplined the player after he was criticized for going to Chinawhite to celebrate his 26th birthday, hours after United lost 3-0 to City at Old Trafford last October , and again after a 12-hour tequila bender in Belfast led to him missing training in January.
Having warned upon his arrival last month that Rashford's progress was solely down to him, Amorim has wasted no time in addressing issues that clearly concern him.
'I want to improve my players and you understand that we have tried for so long, for example with Rash. It doesn't work,” he added. 'Let's keep doing the same thing or try something different? So it's that simple.'
An even simpler case could be to simply sell Rashford and be done with him, as former United skipper Roy Keane suggested on Sunday.
“It doesn't look good for him,” Keane told Sky Sports. 'I think a move from Marcus suits the player. He hasn't been great lately. He (Amorim) has clearly seen something he doesn't like.'
However, getting rid of Rashford is not as easy as it sounds. A player with his salary is not easy to change, and which of Europe's top clubs would sign him in current form? It is understood the £100million price tag on his head two years ago has now been halved.
And what about Garnacho? We're told the decision to drop him for Sunday's match is not related to rumors suggesting he and those close to him are responsible for leaking team news, so we have to assume Amorim saw something else there too that he doesn't like.
Ten Hag had to show a lot of discipline to put Garnacho in his place. “He has marked these players,” is how Keane sees Amorim's decision.
Then there's Amad, the cheerful little Ivorian who looks like he really loves the game he's paid to play. The opposite of a sulking Rashford or a scowling Garnacho who had to be persuaded by captain Bruno Fernandes to celebrate a goal against Leicester last month because he was angry at the way some fans treated him.
Diallo is a reborn player under Amorim, whether he is adapting to right wing-back or to a more advanced position in the coach's 3-4-3 formation. The 22-year-old was United's biggest threat long before he scored Matheus Nunes' penalty and then slotted home the winner from a difficult angle.
“When he's like that, he's unstoppable,” Fernandes said before giving his teammate the man-of-the-match award and a big hug. “I'm pretty sure he can do this every week. He is now getting his opportunities because he works hard.'
A devout Muslim who had to be protected from the champagne spray as United celebrated their FA Cup win against City last season, Diallo will at least not be carried away by his exploits here. That's a player Amorim doesn't have to worry about.
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