The sun was shining upon Old Trafford and as 70,000 plus fans applauded Manchester United off the pitch there was a sense of optimism in the air.
Maybe Manchester United are finally back?
A lot has changed since that galvanising 5-1 victory over Leeds United on the opening day of the season. Cristiano Ronaldo hadn't returned to the club at that point, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has since been sacked and that hope of an actual Premier League title challenge has long since been forgotten.
Yet, the more things change the more they stay the same and in the world where we all feel as though we're walking on sand, it's reassuring to know that Marcelo Bielsa remains the same. Not even coming up against an all-star team of the best players of all time would make him change his approach to a game. It's good to have one public figure you can rely on, eh?
Leeds will undoubtedly approach facing United on Sunday just as they did at Old Trafford in August which means Ralf Rangnick already has the perfect blueprint on how to not only win but to do so in style.
It will likely be a more challenging game due to the raucous Elland Road atmosphere, which is certain to be especially volatile after Leeds fans were robbed of seeing the match at home last season due to the pandemic and it's now been over a decade since their fierce rivals last came to town.
But still, considering Biela's uncompromising nature and the poor form Leeds are in, if we don't see the best of the football Rangnick has to offer on Sunday then we may never will.
The excitement for what the season could hold was palpable as Bruno Fernandes walked off with the match ball under his arm that sunny day in August but even though the Portuguese scored a brilliant hat-trick it was Paul Pogba who stole the show.
The Frenchman set up four of the five goals scored that day, three of which were perfectly weighted passes from deep in midfield and the final an accurate cut-back for Fred to slice home.
It was a sublime display from Pogba, made all the sadder that we haven't seen it again this season, as is the case with the rest of the team, but maybe we will in Yorkshire.
Pogba was able to be so effective against Leeds because he was positioned on the left flank but kept drifting inside to find space. As Leeds play a strict man-to-man system, Pogba's movement pulled the right-back out of position and opened up plenty of space for United's attackers to exploit with abandon. Which they did with devastating ruthlessness.
Rangnick may be hesitant to move Jadon Sancho from the left flank just as he's starting to find form there, but repeating Solskjaer's tactic of deploying Pogba on the wing could easily work a trick once again as we know Leeds won't be changing their system.
If Rangnick does go for it, the team in white could be facing another whitewash.
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