Lionel Messi looked mad as hell, and he wasn't going to take it any more.
For the four days that followed Argentina's defeat seen around the world to Saudi Arabia, Messi's name was being sung in the Metro stations, the fan park, the expensive bars of Doha.
Wherever supporters wearing Argentina shirts would be - which is a lot of places here - so songs mocking their cherished No.10 would follow.
Some would be more crude than others, but the main ditty that got an airing was to the tune of the 'Bella Ciao' song made famous by the hit Netflix series Money Heist , with Bella replaced by Messi and fans revelling in waving him goodbye from this and all other World Cups.
It had begun straight after Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with the Metro bursting with supporters of other teams taking in one of the World Cup's great shock stories.
Outside Al Wakra station that evening, as fans patiently waited to be transferred onto buses to complete their journey to the Al Janoub Stadium for France vs Australia, a group of Brazil supporters sang that song repeatedly, much to the enjoyment of everyone else.
The result had sent shockwaves through the World Cup, and it was a story that people simply couldn't get enough of.
Then came another story.
Because as the clash between Mexico and Poland entered its final half hour, and 90 minutes before France vs Australia got underway, it was announced that Cristiano Ronaldo was to be leaving Manchester United. A contract terminated, a bond severed.
It had been on the cards for a while of course, and there is simply no turning back when you ring up Piers Morgan and ask him to be your vehicle, and so Ronaldo once more found himself challenging his great rival for the headlines, a tumultuous day for both of them.
What comes next for the Portuguese at club level remains to be seen, but on the international stage there was Ghana at Stadium 974 on Thursday, when he received a rapturous reception from supporters.
There are plenty of Ronaldo fans in Qatar, and so by extension Portugal fans too, and they wanted to let their man know that they were there for him. Ronaldo seemed to shed a tear during the anthems, as though he knew this was the first game of what is surely now the final stage of his career.
He'd have a say in it of course, controversially winning and then dispatching a penalty to do what he does best, set a new record.
He is now the only man to have scored in five different World Cups, a feat Messi can't match as he failed to notch in South Africa in 2010.
All of which is pretty much what Ronaldo plays the game for these days, but as a relentless Ghana battled their way back into the game through a combination of determination and no little skill, it was to be Ronaldo's teammates who settled it as he tired.
Bruno Fernandes' fine pass found Joao Felix for a superb clipped finish, and then Rafael Leao expertly guided home a third not long after coming on.
Those attacking players, in the absence of the injured Diogo Jota, look the most likely to make the difference for Portugal from open play, something Ronaldo used to do as second nature but hasn't really done in a big game for Manchester United this season. His only Premier League goal of the campaign came in a 2-1 win at Everton in October.
Can he still make the difference here? Of course. Portugal's next game is against Uruguay on Monday night and that promises to be a cracker.
And Ronaldo has now been shown the standards that he needs to keep matching if he wants to stay at the very top, both in this tournament and at his next club.
Because while Messi was angry as he took to the field against Mexico at the Lusail Stadium on Saturday, he eventually channeled that anger into something good. Something very good.
It wasn't easy. He'd been funnelled into the central areas throughout the first half as Mexico dealt with his threat by simply smothering him, but the work was there and the desire to be the difference shone through.
When his goal came shortly after the hour mark it was the type of goal that you felt only he could have scored in that precise moment, with that split second before he shot so key and basically making everything else that came later seem possible.
This was his answer to the mocking and the glee derived from the Saudi Arabia result, with those writing him off made to eat their words in the grandest manner possible as the key man made the key difference at the key time.
Now, with the world watching and waiting for his next move, can Ronaldo do the same?
