It was a snapshot of the relative mediocrity engulfing Old Trafford that one of their players deemed the harsh dismissal of a Brighton centre-half to be worthy of a vigorous, celebratory double fist-pump.
But in fairness, Diogo Dalot is unfamiliar with a Manchester United era when those gestures were normally reserved for trophy-winning moments.
It seems seeing off Lewis Dunk is rated a triumph inside the Theatre of Dreams nowadays.
To again be fair, to watch Dalot and United demand and then revel in Dunk’s debatable red card on Tuesday night was not a unique experience.
It was hardly classy but it was not unique.
It happens the length and breadth of the Premier League and has been happening for some considerable time.
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But United’s harassment of referee Peter Bankes, for which they now face a Football Association charge, was symptomatic of a return to the days of orchestrated intimidation.
We are not talking Roy Keane and Andy D’Urso but it was a snarling step along the way.
The actions of the United players, led by Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire, that were deemed worthy of a charge came just a day after the FA asked IFAB, football’s lawmaking body, to consider a trial that would allow referees at grassroots level to wear body cameras.
The charity Referee Support UK believes body cameras would help in combating the ever-growing problem of officials being verbally and physically abused.
Perhaps Bankes and his colleagues should wear them. After all, like it or not, it is the Premier League that sets the example for the rest of English football.
If it’s ok for one of the world’s greatest-ever players and for the captain of one of the world’s greatest-ever clubs to harangue a referee, then it’s ok for everyone.
And before we go any further, this is not just a Manchester United sin.
Over half a decade, it has been a scandal how lightly Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have been punished for their persistent, confrontational aggression towards officials.
Coaches of kids teams up and down the land - often parents - must look at the finger-jabbing, arm-waving antics of, possibly, the two finest club managers in world football and think that is the way to go.
But, normally, they get off scot-free, just as most players do.
It seems every other close-season there is an initiative to stop the verbal and physical intimidation of referees (the physical part comes in the surrounding by a mob).
Remember when it was supposed to be only the captain who could approach the ref?
But various clampdowns on the problem have all been allowed to drift and so you get the great and the good of Manchester United screaming in Bankes’ face because he initially thought a defender was covering and Dunk’s foul on Anthony Elanga was worthy of just a yellow card.
Rightly, the FA have charged United but we know what the outcome will be.
When Arsenal were charged under the same rule - failing to ensure their players were orderly when protesting about a Gabriel red card in the recent defeat to Manchester City - the club was fined £20,000.
United will probably get the same but, judging by Dalot’s reaction, Ralf Ragnick’s side would probably consider it twenty grand well spent if their reactions persuaded the VAR and, eventually Bankes’ himself to upgrade Dunk’s yellow to a red.
Any club fine for this sort of thing has to come with the threat of points deductions for persistent offenders.
That is the only language the clubs will understand.
And in the meantime, perhaps players and managers will take the odd moment to realise their histrionics are being copied on school and Sunday League fields.
Perhaps they will realise that their antics are part of the reason why referees who start out doing it for the love of the game now feel the need to wear body cameras.
A sorry state of affairs.
