In his previous nine appearances against Real Sociedad before Thursday night, Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 15 goals and been on the winning side on all nine occasions.
That staggering haul includes two-hat tricks and four other occasions when he's scored at least twice against the Basque outfit. So they had every reason to be fearful of a reunion with a player they thought they had seen the back off.
But as the first half progressed at Old Trafford in United's first Europa League group game, Sociedad's defenders grew in confidence against Ronaldo. They sussed as quickly as many other teams this season that there is no longer anything to be fearful of.
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The 37-year-old is still capable of moments of divine intervention, as hat-tricks against Norwich and Tottenham this calendar year show, but they are now rarer. Whereas he once felt like a constant threat throughout a game, he burst into life only very sporadically on Thursday in a competition he'd managed to avoid for 20 years.
For all the talk about whether Ronaldo fits into Erik ten Hag's system, whether he has the fitness or inclination to press and the desire to learn new tricks, maybe this is as big an issue. He just doesn't put the fear into defences like he used to.
He ended last season in good form, but there were spells where he went goalless and he's not found the back of the net at all so far this season.
Part of the myth that made Ronaldo - and players like him - so unstoppable is that fear factor. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, they reach a level where they're the best player on the planet, defences fear what they will do to them and when it happens the cycle continues.
Suddenly, it feels like that element has been lost with Ronaldo. He remains an excellent player capable of moments of magic, but defenders look more confident against him this season.
He offered no threat in his only previous start against Brentford and his most notable contribution against Real Sociedad was to do a passable impression of Fillipo Inzaghi and get caught offside on several occasions.
When Aritz Elustondo raced past to snuff out one chance when Ronaldo was offside it appeared to give the centre-back confidence in his ability to defend against a legend of the game. After that Sociedad kept a high line and tried to force him back.
They were confident that Ronaldo wouldn't win a foot race to through balls and or passes over the top and the forward seemed to know this as well. His header towards the end of the first half was powerful, but he had to be offside to make sure he got there first and had never retreated back to an onside position after the first attack broke down.
In the second half the forward finally found some space in the area but it was snuffed out almost immediately and that was his only real sight of goal, beyond a late free-kick that tamely hit the wall.
As well as Elustondo, Ronaldo was up against 21-year-old Jon Pacheco, playing only his 20th senior game, but he looked unfazed and unruffled by the occasion. Rather than worrying about what Ronaldo might do, he took it as a challenge.
That loss of fear is problematic to Ronaldo, who at the moment isn't producing the goods to make defenders worry. It's a dangerous game to be writing Ronaldo off, even at this stage of his career, but he has a point to prove.
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