Erik ten Hag had a smile on his face when Anthony Martial scored for Manchester United against Everton, although that wide grin was soon wiped away, just over fives minutes later, when Marcus Rashford went to the ground with an injury.
Rashford appeared to hold his groin and he looked in visible discomfort. The medical staff indicated that a substitution was necessary and he slowly limped his way around the pitch, with supporters watching and beginning to fear the worst.
Ten Hag shared a few words with the player and he headed to the dressing room. United's swashbuckling performance against Everton was their best for some time, but Rashford leaving the field in pain took the gloss off the victory.
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After the game, Ten Hag was asked about Rashford and he took a swipe at the Premier League for his side's hectic schedule. "We have to wait, how bad or how good it is. Obviously he went off with a complaint, now we have to wait for a diagnosis," he said.
"Some things you can't avoid but it was avoidable. Why is the Premier League giving us the late Sunday night game [against Newcastle] and giving us the early Saturday game? I think it's not right. You run the risk, the players can't recover that quickly.
"We know all research that players need a certain period to recover and it accumulates. So then you run even more of a risk. It's also part of the schedule that we now find ourselves in this situation and now we can only pray he is not dropping off."
Those comments suggest the suspicion is that Rashford has sustained an abductor-related problem - injuries to muscles caused due to overuse - and the concern is that such a strain, even when minor, can lead to a spell on the sidelines of three weeks.
Rashford will now have an MRI scan on the injury and the extent of the problem will be revealed in the coming days, however, considering the discomfort the player appeared to be in, it seems Ten Hag might be braced for bad news.
United are over-reliant on Rashford and they simply need him fit. The Reds have scored 82 goals this season and Rashford has been responsible for 28 of those, which means he's produced around 35 per cent of the team's haul.
The over-reliance on Rashford has been obvious and it's little wonder Ten Hag was so frustrated in his post-match press conference, as he understands the challenges that are bound to lie ahead should he be sidelined for a period of weeks.
The best-case scenario is that Rashford's injury was minor and he's back sooner rather than later, but it's possible that he could be absent for a sizeable portion of the business end of the campaign, which is what Ten Hag feared most.
Antony, Wout Weghorst, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial have scored just 21 goals between them this season and the fitness of the latter, who has scored seven goals, cannot be relied upon because his injury record is awful.
Martial has been sidelined for the bulk of the campaign through hamstring, Achilles and back injuries and he's made just six league starts, but he's taken part in full training for four weeks and still isn't fit enough to play from the first whistle.
The forward also did light, individual work before joining full training, so the fact Martial is still not deemed fit enough to start by Ten Hag should raise a thousand red flags about his body and condition if they hadn't already been recognised.
If Rashford is out, it seems Sancho will start on the left and there will be a choice between Weghorst and Martial to play at centre-forward, but the Frenchman's fitness means the loan striker, who has two goals this season, is likely to play.
A potential front line of Sancho, Weghorst and Antony for important games against Sevilla and Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final would not be ideal and it would surely exacerbate this side's biggest problem: finding the back of the net.
Rashford's outstanding form has hidden the problem to some extent and a potential lay-off would be the worst possible news.
If Rashford is facing a spell on the sidelines, it will be time for the other attacking players to step up.
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