He had already made a number of fleeting appearances on and off the bench, but the moment the ball left his feet on two instances against Sunderland, Adnan Januzaj became the name on everyone's lips.
No one can doubt the quality of his goals and the reports on his performances in Manchester United's youth teams. Januzaj is the reigning Reserve Team Player of the Year for the Red Devils but only a small pool of award winners in that category have gone on to make an impact at the club.
Federico Macheda never won that award but the young Italian did win the club's Young Player of the Year award in 2008/09 after his exploits in the first team when he scored the winner against Aston Villa on his full debut - a goal that was crucial in the title race and also thrust him into the limelight.
That goal did not do Macheda any favours and he has spent much of the last three years on loan or on the fringes of the first team.
But Pat Nevin does not believe the same fate will befall Januzaj. Speaking to Off The Ball last night, he sees signs of a great player in the making.
"There's no doubt that he has the talent to make it as a top level professional footballer. You can see that by the way he moves and the technique. It's almost impossible not to look at that guy and not think of Ryan Giggs. Now that's too much to put on top of him because he's only just broken into the team. There'll be lots of ups and downs.
"But it's clear that he has the technical ability. It's clear that he is confident and not fearful which is a big thing that you have to have as well. We'll wait and see but he's got a chance."
David Moyes has claimed that Januzaj is in the same category as Wayne Rooney at a similar age. But the biggest clue of his talent is the way his team-mates interact with him according to Nevin.
"I hope you saw how his team-mates played with him. Those players that have been around for a long time and won medals were looking for him and that is one hell of a giveaway to what he's capable of."
And just what are Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez capable of in their own right?
The Liverpool strike duo have combined to great effect over the last couple of games, evoking reminders of strike partnerships of yesteryear. Brendan Rodgers has described both as 9½s that dovetail with each other.
"They have relied massively on Sturridge this season in all those 1 - 0s they got. As a duo and pair, they are fantastic. Without being totally smug about it, I was on the show last year and I explained that neither player should be played out wide. I thought Sturridge would be the one up front most often and Suarez just behind. But they are both utterly capable of switching. They don't need to look for each other because they have complete knowledge of where the other is and it's really good to see that. That's pretty old-school stuff."
To accommodate them, Rodgers is using a 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2. While the back three has been making a resurgence in Italy and to a lesser extent in the Premier League, Nevin believes a back three would be a risk in the big games.
"There was an obvious gap in the right back area [against Crystal Palace]. Kolo Toure was on that side but wasn't fully covering. In the 3-5-2, the big player in there is the widest midfielder because they basically are the winger and the full-back. Raheem Sterling did it and got caught time and again in that position. If you try that against the Chelseas and Arsenals, you'd want to have that drilled and not done on a limb."
