Sentiment rarely counts for anything in football.
Sir Alex Ferguson was a master of moving players on when he felt their course was run. And, as David de Gea lay prone on the London Stadium turf watching the ball roll agonisingly towards his empty net, you wonder if this is the final chapter of his career as Manchester United number one.
Said Benrahma's trundling shot should have been meat and drink for the Spaniard but poor positioning, a weak right hand and a slight slip combined to allow the tame effort to breach his defences. As the hosts celebrated, De Gea stood hands on hips, a blade or two of grass on his cheek, gazing up at the London sky looking lost.
Not for the first time he had been found wanting. And not for the first time he faces questions over his future. De Gea has never seemed the perfect fit for the way Erik ten Hag wants to mould his United side and the evidence is stacking up against persevering with the 32-year-old as first choice.
A lack of alternatives may well have extended the former Atletico Madrid man's run in the side but surely now Father Time is calling. De Gea has won United's Player of the Year award four times, and been named in the PFA Team of the Year on five occasions but past glories count for little when plotting future success.
And Ten Hag only needs to cast an eye across Manchester to see how dispensing with a long-serving stopper can help on the road to revival as United seek to challenge for honours at home and abroad.
Pep Guardiola, closing in on a fifth Premier League title with City, wasted no time in stamping his style and authority on the Etihad dressing room in dispensing with Joe Hart. The England international was established as the club's first choice and had helped them claim a pair of league titles, League Cups and an FA Cup in the four years preceding Guardiola's arrival. He'd starred on big European nights and had passed 50 appearances for England.
It mattered little. He wasn't what Guardiola envisaged in his City side and the former Barcelona boss wasted little time in wielding the axe. Hart was benched for the first Premier League game under Pep and never returned. Hart knew that was the beginning of the end.
He recalled: “He [Guardiola] said 'of course you’ll be given the opportunity, but…'. As soon as there are any buts at the end you know there’s a decision. It was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying 'I can’t see this working'."
City opted for Claudio Bravo as a hit-and-miss season-long replacement for Hart before Ederson arrived and reinvented the position. It feels as though Ten Hag has used De Gea's 2022-23 campaign as the Bravo equivalent and the Old Trafford boss now faces a crucial summer decision. Does he have the Hart to emulate Pep or will De Gea be handed a fresh opportunity and the faith he won't let it slip through his fingers, like he did Benrahma's daisy cutter on Sunday night.
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