On a night a walkout was threatened, two players with a combined age of 71 played at anything but walking pace. Juan Mata and Cristiano Ronaldo's names were chanted by the tens of thousands of Manchester United supporters who remained in their seats for the lap of honour.
Mata was still stood outside Old Trafford as midnight loomed, signing autographs and posing for selfies with the last few supporters milling around the players' car park Nobody left disappointed.
Ronaldo has excelled at quick getaways as much as finishing this season yet was upbeat as he applauded the matchgoers. "I'm not finished," he uttered in front of the on-pitch cameraman. Those three words are ambiguous though Ronaldo's body language must be as reassuring for United supporters as his phenomenal performance level in the last two months.
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"As far as I know, he will be here next season again," Ralf Rangnick told one of the rights holders when pressed on Ronaldo's future. Rangnick's opinion has been devalued by confirmation of Erik ten Hag's appointment and the German's dual role with the Austria national team. He is merely a sounding board for the football director John Murtough.
Rangnick has been borderline ungrateful to Ronaldo after hat-tricks, determined to remain consistent in his assessment that Ronaldo's role at United next season is tenuous. Gradually, Rangnick is warming to Ronaldo retaining an integral role under Ten Hag.
Ronaldo has two games to match the 26 goals he tallied in his last United season in 2008-09 when he turned 24. On an individual basis, his season is already a success: 24 goals; 18 in the Premier League and six in the Champions League, with Premier League Player of the Month and Goal of the Month orbs to add to his Madeira museum. Ronaldo may yet tie level with David de Gea on four Sir Matt Busby Player of the Years.
Should Ronaldo regain the sizeable Busby statue, his first and fourth awards would be 18 years apart, another remarkable reflection of his longevity and staying power. Only Heung-min Son and Mohamed Salah have scored more Premier League goals this season and Salah is the sole player in the league with more goals across all competitions.
Those who were writing Ronaldo off and his obituaries are starting to put them through the shredder. In a season where Edinson Cavani has spent as much time in Montevideo as Manchester, Anthony Martial fled to Seville, Marcus Rashford plummeted to new depths, Bruno Fernandes was found out and United expelled Mason Greenwood, Ronaldo has carried the attack and the team.
Jesse Lingard's brother has overestimated West Ham's capacity to finish above United. David Moyes did not have it in him to manage United and does not have it in him to finish above them. United yo-yo between Champions League and Europa League and will be back in the latter next season.
Ronaldo has not played in the competition under its current guise. He appeared in the Uefa Cup aged 17 for Sporting Lisbon in October 2002 and you would not put it past Jorge Mendes to have inserted a no-Europa-League-playing-time clause in Ronaldo's contract.
Ten Hag has to use the Thursday night schedule to his advantage. The drudgery of the group stage is beneath Ronaldo and it would be advisable to save him for weekend fixtures in the league. Managers also have to factor in the workload of a winter World Cup played in punishing conditions. United will play their six group games between September 8 and November 3 and will have one tie to play in the redundant League Cup before squads descend upon Qatar.
Rangnick has recommended United sign two modern strikers, again citing the fluidity of Manchester City and Liverpool's attacks: "Modern strikers do not necessarily have to be wingers. If you look to Liverpool or Manchester City and look at their strikers, they have five or six top-class strikers.
"Gabriel Jesus, until four or five weeks ago, he hardly played. Now he is playing again regularly and if you look at the number of players they have and ask me if Gabriel Jesus is a central striker or a winger, is Grealish a central striker or a winger, they are all strikers who can play in different positions, they can also switch and they can rotate.
"That kind of players, we don't have that many."
Rangnick claimed Ronaldo "is not a central striker, he also does not want to play in that position". Ronaldo has played more flexibly since the Ten Hag announcement 12 days ago. Against Brentford, he was buoyed by the presence of an intricate playmaker in Mata rather than the hit-and-hope approach of Fernandes.
If United follow Rangnick's recommendation, they will recruit energetic and hungry forwards prepared to rotate with Ronaldo on a one or two-year apprenticeship before they ascend to the throne.
Ousting Ronaldo will not be a walkover.
