With 22 minutes gone Khusanov found himself upfield and was left whirling like a man trapped in an invisible revolving door by Vinícius allowing the ball to run across his body, vast open tracts of space appearing in that simple movement.
The scoreline read 3-1 by the end, but for long periods on a lovely soft February night at the Bernabéu this felt like an act of extended sporting cruelty, an opportunity to sit back and watch the players of Real Madrid pulling the wings very slowly from an aubergine-shirted butterfly.
Ederson had ambled into a strange position off to one side, perfectly placed for Mbappé to lift the bouncing ball up into the evening air and then down in a gentle parabola into the City net.
Khusanov seemed mesmerised, unable to decide who to stand near while they scored and choosing instead to stand near nobody as Mbappé took the ball and training-gamed it into the corner.
Mainly it was a problem for Abdukodir Khusanov, played out of position at right-back and left to endure a public nightmare by his manager on the same side as Mbappé and Vinícius, the graveyard shift, a role he just isn’t ready for.
