In the space of just a few weeks, Manchester United's meeting with Chelsea went from being a potential Premier League title decider to the most notable - in fact, the only - moment of Dong Fangzhuo's Premier League career.
United and Chelsea had been locked in a fierce battle for the title, and the May 9 meeting - just days before the final round of fixtures - had loomed large.
However, after an eventful afternoon in April which saw the as-things-stand table take plenty of twists and turns, it was all over by the time the teams met at Stamford Bridge.
The pair were also set to face off in the FA Cup final 10 days later, the first since the opening of the new Wembley Stadium. With the league trophy sewn up and Sir Alex Ferguson in no mood to give any clues regarding his selection for the final, he brought out a number of fringe players and forced the Blues to give a guard of honour to a motley group, some of whom hadn't even played in the league before that evening.
Chief among them was Dong, making his one and only top-flight appearance for the Red Devils.
Dong was still a few days shy of his 19th birthday when he joined United from hometown club Dalian Shide in 2004, but spent two seasons on loan at Royal Antwerp before making his bow.
The time in Belgium came about due to work permit issues, and allowed him to play regular football and spend time surrounded by fellow United loanees including Danny Simpson and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
Despite netting for United in pre-season ahead of the 2006-07 campaign, his work permit was only approved in time for him to link up with his parent club in the second half of the season. Ferguson named him on the bench for several Champions League games - including both legs of the 8-3 aggregate quarter-final victory over Roma - but his first minutes didn't arrive until May.
The youngster wasn't the only fringe player given a chance that day. Backup goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak started only his sixth league game of the season, while Chris Eagles made his first ever Premier League start and Kieran Lee played his one and only game in the competition.
Chelsea also rotated, with Lassana Diarra and Scott Sinclair handed rare starts, and the game ended goalless with the understudies on both sides earning their keep. However, that's about as good as things got for Dong in a Man Utd shirt.
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Dong only played two more games for United's first-team before leaving in 2008. He started a surprise League Cup defeat to Coventry City in September 2007, and came off the bench in a Champions League draw with Roma three months later.
He would return to Dalian before giving European football another go with spells in Poland, Portugal and Armenia, before rounding off his career back in China. Since then, he moved into coaching, working with children with special needs, before taking the surprising step of getting cosmetic surgery. Or so it appeared.
“Confidence is a massive part of it for any young player, especially when you struggle with the language and the cultural changes," United technical director Darren Fletcher told The Athletic in 2019. "It’s difficult to say someone wasn’t good enough.
"It wasn’t like he was miles off it at Manchester United. I didn’t see any reason why he wouldn’t have been a success elsewhere. But I think he went back to Asia and we never really saw or heard of him again.”
According to Marca (via The Star ), Dong underwent a "skin peel" treatment aimed at rejuvenating his face. The striker, who left the professional game at the age of 29, had failed to build on his early promise and never added to his 13 international caps after leaving United.
The real story, though, is something far less drastic. Indeed, the player himself explained all in an AFP interview in 2019.
"I just did some simple make-up," said Dong, who was happy to poke fun at himself and revealed he still gets stopped in the street back home. "If you say that I had plastic surgery, the way I am now is probably a plastic surgery failure."
Still, despite Dong's failure to establish himself at Old Trafford, the club's suits have continued to maintain he was signed for footballing reasons rather than the commercial reasons hinted at when he arrived.
“It wasn’t a commercial decision,” Peter Draper, United's group commercial director at the time of the signing, told The Athletic in 2019. Not at all. I’ve been asked that question many times over the years.
"Clearly there would have been an intention to take full advantage from a commercial standpoint but it was also clear that we could only do that if the player was successful on the pitch. And he was a talent.”
The Chelsea game might have been as good as things got for the Chinese international. But he'll always have that moment.
