As the Manchester United and Arsenal players waited to resume the game at Old Trafford, Antony was still in his own little world.
The other 21 players and referee Paul Tierney were ready to go again, but the second most expensive player in United's history had the match ball stuffed up his shirt and was still midway into Arsenal's half.
This was the 22-year-old's third or fourth celebration for his first United goal, depending on what you count as a celebration, and the clearly shy and retiring Brazilian clearly wanted to milk the moment.
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Seconds before finding the back of the net he had waved his foot over the ball several times to try and befuddle Oleksandr Zinchenko, who didn't fall for the blur of footwork. When Antony instead rolled the ball back to Diogo Dalot the away end mocked United's £85.5million winger.
Crucially, he had kept the ball and United kept building their attack. Christian Eriksen fired a smart ball into Bruno Fernandes, who was fouled by Gabriel. While Arsenal's players switched off United kept going, Rashford found Antony and he finished smartly.
With that mock laughter still ringing in his ears, he ran over to the away end, kissing the badge in an embrace so loving it should have been shown after the watershed. Then came a roar to camera. Then came the baby celebration.
It hadn't taken Antony long to get involved. His first touch came after two seconds, chesting down a Lisandro Martinez pass just behind Rashford. He delivered a disappointing cross on five minutes but when the ball was recycled he demanded it back from Scott McTominay.
Two minutes later he appeared to have dribbled down a dead end, but with his options closing came an inventive and impudent flick that released the ball to Dalot. From his cross Eriksen could have scored.
There was a moment of comedy as well, when Antony's first tackle in a United shirt only managed to upend McTominay. Inevitably, the new boy tired, having done little training since effectively going on strike to make sure he was reunited with Ten Hag, but he had already begun to repay that enormous fee.
It's 51 weeks since Old Trafford saw an impact quite like this from a new signing. When Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a 4-1 win against Newcastle there was giddy talk of a title challenge.
Instead, the next nine months unravelled at breakneck speed and Ronaldo is now consigned to the role of luxury substitute, incompatible with Ten Hag's all-action system.
The Dutchman would clearly never have signed the 37-year-old, but he's staked his reputation on Antony. The £85.5million United have committed to signing him from Ajax is an astronomical fee for a player with just two years experience in Europe and stats that are no better than good for a side so dominant.
But it's not just Antony's skill that Ten Hag admires, but his character and his personality. United liked the fact he went on strike to force through his transfer and his response to his first goal showed the spikiness that Ten Hag has prioritised in transfers this summer.
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