Six months ago Liverpool and Manchester City were about to face each other for the second time in a week and there was still a train of thought, predominantly from neutral observers, that their games remained too friendly to be a truly great rivalry.
While the quality of football was among the highest ever seen in England, there was an absence of needle and a little too much mutual respect for there to be real fireworks. Who, for instance, was going to throw a slice of pizza in the tunnel?
Now, in the aftermath of Sunday afternoon's collision at Anfield, such talk can be parked for good because this has got very ugly, very quickly. Too ugly, in fact. The level of animosity is high on and off the pitch and the fallout is going to drag on.
