Two saves, two goals and two records. When Leicester breached Manchester United's zigzag backline, they encountered the wall of David de Gea. Up the other end, Marcus Rashford shot at Danny Ward as though he was made of plaster.
Rashford has officially tallied his season-best haul of 24 club goals with more than three months of fixtures remaining. Provided he avoids injury, he is poised to become the first United player to break the 30-goal barrier since Robin van Persie 10 seasons ago.
De Gea is now level with Peter Schmeichel on 180 clean sheets, a feat achieved with possibly his most pivotal performance of the season. Both denials of Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho are worthy inclusions in his lengthy highlights reel.
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The standards have been restored to such a lofty height at United the manager is angry in celebration. When Rashford put United ahead, Erik ten Hag beckoned Diogo Dalot over for a dressing down before doubtlessly airing harsher words in the dressing room.
Ten Hag decisively hooked Alejandro Garnacho, introduced Jadon Sancho and United played better in the first five minutes of the second half than they had in the entirety of the first. The tone was set by Lisandro Martinez nodding against the crossbar from Luke Shaw's free-kick within three minutes. United were 3-0 up in the 61st minute.
Sancho, deployed as the No.10, was instrumental and scored his second goal in the second week running. United are such a tactically innovative and flexible team now they had Barcelona second-guessing in midweek. Brendan Rodgers appeared to have Ten Hag's number for 25 minutes but was tactically outwitted eventually.
Sancho was identified as a right winger by United and has played his finest football for them from the left. He has added a string to his bow under the mature man-management of Ten Hag and he scythed through Leicester to end the contest with his fifth goal of the campaign.
The unpredictability of Sancho's role has become a theme of United's attack in the last week. Bruno Fernandes remained on the right for the duration against Leicester and, as he has demonstrated in his handful of stints on the flank, he has never allowed himself to be inhibited.
Fernandes, the de facto captain this season, assisted two goals and created a glaring opportunity for Dalot. He will one day be recognised as the official captain, a role he seemed unworthy of last season. In Ten Hag, Fernandes has a kindred spirit of a manager; two driven mentalities demanding the utmost excellence.
Ten Hag and Fernandes received the most rapturous ovations as they approached the tunnel at full-time, with the chanting segueing into a rendition of 'oh, United we love you'. The Stretford End was decorated with tricolors of red, white and black, green and gold and the blue and white of Argentina. They sang about Wembley. The return of glory days may start there next week.
Garnacho is prone to sharing his emotions on Instagram and though his withdrawal appeared harsh it was completely vindicated. One quandary of the United attack is too many are too mercurial and more effective off the bench. Sancho underwhelmed in his starts at Leeds and Barcelona but has possibly played his way into Ten Hag's XIs against Barca and Newcastle.
Whatever Ten Hag said during the interval had a profound effect. He has seldom appeared as animated as he was in the first 45 minutes when United's defence was disjointed, loose but reprieved by the magnificence of De Gea, in vintage form.
Wout Weghorst started as the No.10 again and it remains to be seen whether that experiment resumes on Thursday night against Barcelona. The playmaker role demands creativity and that is beyond Weghorst. He was also profligate in his one-on-one with Ward.
Wales 'keeper Ward sparked Rashford's goal glut for country and club in Qatar and he was porous for both of Rashford's saveable strikes. Rashford has plundered 16 goals in his last 17 United appearances. World-class form, never mind career-best.
The first audible chant from the Stretford End as the teams strode out was "we want Glazers out". A statement from the Manchester United Supporters' Trust dropped into inboxes around an hour before kick-off and the matchgoers did not nail their colours to the mast of any potential buyer, instead savouring the escapism of the game.
United started on the front foot but Leicester put them on the back foot through swift counter-attacks of United's own making. Fred and Weghorst both turned attack into defence and De Gea and Victor Lindelof got in the way of Barnes and Iheanacho inside the first 10 minutes. Ten Hag gruffly enquired what the players were playing at and snapped at Martinez for hopefully hooking the ball, gifting it back to Leicester.
When Rashford larruped the ball past Ward in the 25th minute, Ten Hag spent the majority of the celebrations berating Dalot, rollocked only moments earlier. Ten Hag was so appalled by the performance he stepped onto the pitch. Dalot, perhaps so hot under the collar after Ten Hag collared him, removed his underlayer on a mild afternoon in Manchester.
Fernandes, a classy provider for Rashford's strike, shook his head and held his hand aloft apologetically for needlessly overhitting a pass. in a half he still created United's two glaring opportunities. Dalot failed to connect clinically. No matter; United had Rashford.
That was one of the day's records.
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