About 25 minutes before kick-off here in northern Portugal, a young lad from Stockport ran out in advance of the biggest night of his life and proceeded to juggle a football across half the width of the field.
It had been Phil Foden's birthday the day before. He had turned 21, a landmark age marked before dinner with a cake presented to him by his Manchester City team-mates.
There had not been much fuss and no wonder. This was to be a much bigger day, an occasion when a player described by his manager Pep Guardiola as 'the most talented player I have ever seen' was to showcase his precocious gifts on European football's biggest stage.