Alejandro Garnacho was justified to be frustrated at being substituted during the victory over Ipswich Town but the needs of Manchester United outweighed those of the individual.
With Patrick Dorgu having received his marching orders, Ruben Amorim needed to make a change and someone had to be sacrificed. Garnacho was that man and while Rasmus Hojlund would have been a more palatable choice, the decision was not personal against the 20-year-old.
What happened next blew the incident into the stratosphere as Garnacho decided to trudge down the tunnel instead of sitting with his teammates on the bench. While his motivations behind this are hazy considering new footage appears to show him signalling that he is changing his shirt, his reaction post-match was damning.
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Sharing an image of himself to his story looking disgruntled without any context following a victory sent a clear message that he was unhappy with Amorim's call and justified the Portuguese head coach insisting he would be talking to Garnacho this week before Friday's next press conference. Ultimately, Garnacho has now placed himself at a crossroads and whichever direction he takes will see him copy the path of his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo.
One route will see Garnacho follow in the footsteps of Ronaldo after his first stint at United. Having the likes of Roy Keane keeping him in check led the winger to become one of the greatest players of his generation and a key figure not only for United but his country and eventually Real Madrid too.
The other route is a lot more concerning, though. In that scenario he would follow the passage of Ronaldo during his second stint at the club where tantrums became a common occurrence and storming away from the bench became a defining feature of his character.
This second route is fine if you are a player of Ronaldo's stature in 2025. He has done what he has wanted to accomplish and while you may not agree with his methods, he has the luxury of choosing which challenges he wants to take.
Garnacho has not done enough in the game to earn that 'ego', yet. United fans will be imploring him to take the first route and not ruin what is set to be a terrific career.
Thankfully there are signs that he is willing to take the former option after posting a celebratory message to Instagram on Thursday after clearly cooling down. There is no way that Ronaldo of 2022 would have backtracked in such a manner.
Unfortunately for Garnacho, he may have to take his medicine on this occasion and attempt to learn from it. What must be remembered is that he is still just 20, he has been thrust into the spotlight at a young age and will make mistakes.
It is now a matter of learning from those and ensuring he doesn't follow the wrong Ronaldo path.
