It's been a good World Cup for Manchester United so far, with several of Erik ten Hag's players managing to produce their best form on the biggest stage, but none more so than the outstanding Bruno Fernandes.
Even the narrative gods are playing ball with Fernandes. His every interaction with former Old Trafford teammate Cristiano Ronaldo is being scrutinised, especially with Ronaldo not mentioning his international colleague as a player he admired in his explosive TV interview.
So when the attacking midfielder's excellent cross was almost glanced in by Ronaldo against Uruguay on Monday, it fit the storyline perfectly. Ronaldo raced off to try and claim his 119th international goal, but the stadium announcer gave the goal to Fernandes, as did FIFA. Ronaldo's sheepish grin when seeing Fernandes' face light up the big screen said it all.
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Ronaldo looked happy enough at full-time, as he would after a big win for his country, but no doubt he was unhappy that Portugal won a penalty soon after he'd been substituted. Fernandes scored again and had two very late chances to claim a World Cup hat-trick. His frustration at not taking them showed what that can mean to a player.
The 28-year-old now has two goals and two assists in two games in Qatar and is putting himself in the conversation to claim the Golden Ball award for the tournament's best player. But his performances for his country come after a spell where he had rediscovered his best form for United as well.
Interestingly, twice this season Ten Hag has spoken about how Fernandes thrives when he captains United, a role that is his only when Harry Maguire isn't on the pitch, which has been a fairly regular occurrence.
At the end of August, after he'd scored in the win at Southampton, Ten Hag said the captaincy gave Fernandes an "impulse" and just over a week ago he elaborated on his leadership.
“That’s also one of the things [he’s impressed me with], I think he’s really an example," he said.
"The way he transfers the way of play from us, how he motivates around him, how he is the example, so the energy he gives to the team, that’s really good and so I’m happy with his performance."
Fernandes has worn the armband with his club 15 times this season and his record is exceptional, with United winning 12 of them and the only defeat coming in the 6-3 loss at the Etihad. It's a superb record.
If the Portuguese playmaker is proving a skilled and inspiring leader, whose own performances improve with the responsibility of the captaincy, then there must be a time when he inherits the role permanently from Maguire.
This is probably an unfair time to be questioning Maguire's role, with the centre-back once again producing his best for England on the biggest stage, but before the season paused for the World Cup he was beginning to look like fourth-choice for that position under Ten Hag.
Having a club captain who is so far down the pecking order is not an ideal scenario and with Fernandes leading on the pitch and Maguire off it, it could become complicated.
Ten Hag backed Maguire for that role during the club's pre-season tour of Australia, although he did stress he wanted more than just one leader as well.
"I always see the captaincy as an issue that I dictate. The team building for me is an important point and I always talk about a group of leaders. The captain is a really important one and I’m happy with him," he said.
Ten Hag clearly sees how valuable the role of captain is, which is why a change might have to come at some point. The current set-up looks unsustainable if Maguire remains on the periphery of his best team.
Fernandes has already demonstrated this season that he has the credentials to be captain and his performances for Portugal are once again proving he can rise to the occasion.
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