Juan Mata made a beeline for David Silva at full-time in Turin last week and later tweeted how pleasant it was to see the mago.
Mago - magician - is Mata 's nickname among Manchester United teammates and the majority of them shouted 'mago' as they gave Mata a standing ovation at Newcastle in October.
That was the first of four Premier League starts Mata has had this season and all of them came before the first advent calendar window was opened. Mata, 33 in April, missed United's fixtures either side of Christmas and was recently absent for five successive games, a run that has all but wrecked their chance of a championship challenge.
"Against West Brom, you're thinking, 'do we have someone there to unlock the door?'" Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said last week. "If we had Juan to create that pass. Because he has done well in the earlier part of the season.
"Now he's back, he's travelling with us, he's been bright in training. If we see Juan on the pitch I'm sure he'll want to prove to his Spanish fans what a quality player he is."
It seems distant, but it was only a few months ago some Premier League managers were carping about the opposition to five substitutions from their peers. Solskjaer was among them yet often fails to make the maximum three changes; in three of the last five league games United have made two.
Mata had been underused prior to his five-game absence. He was an unused substitute in the listless 2-1 defeat by Sheffield United and Solskjaer ignored Mata and Donny van de Beek with United deadlocked against Wolves in late December.
With Solskjaer still sceptical of Van de Beek he has a trustworthy alternative in Mata, well into his 10th year in the Premier League. A first start in 41 days against Real Sociedad seems likely after a meagre 174 minutes in the last three months (100 of them against Watford).
United will have seven more matches before the March internationals and need to make the most of Mata in the next three months as his contract ticks towards its June 30 expiry date. He will have had the benefit of a fortnight's rest during next month's internationals and has had an influential role in the majority of his 11 appearances this term.
Mata helped United recover from the trauma of their 6-1 thrashing by Tottenham at Newcastle and Solskjaer started him in the wake of the startling back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir. Mata earned the decisive penalty against West Brom and within seven minutes of his introduction at West Ham United went from 1-0 down to 2-1 up.
Although his popular Tapeo & Wine restaurant on Deansgate closed in September, Mata still has the lease on the restaurant and is understood to be rebranding soon. United are not going to trigger the one-year extension in Mata's contract and retain him against his will but his importance extends beyond the pitch.
Van de Beek might be particularly keen for Mata to stick around. "He is a very clever player," Mata said of Van de Beek at Brighton in September. "I love playing with him because he finds pocket of space and he understands football in a way that I like, which is playing one-twos, passing and moving and the goal was like that.
""He's always in the right position, he flicked the ball to me and I could finish with my right foot."
Van de Beek might only thrive if or when Paul Pogba departs and Mata is another playmaker who has had to make United play from other areas. Van de Beek is not going to oust Bruno Fernandes and Mata became a more effective 10 than the waning Wayne Rooney, over-indulged by David Moyes and Louis van Gaal before Jose Mourinho put him out to pasture, without playing as the 10.
United always seem to be an injury or suspension away from their attack collapsing and coped commendably despite Anthony Martial's statuesque performance at the weekend. Edinson Cavani has not committed to a second season yet. Solskjaer decided Jesse Lingard's race was run a year before he was loaned to West Ham and Facundo Pellistri will require time.
Mata is nearly double Amad's age and an appropriate mentor for his fellow left-footer adept at cutting inside following his development in Italy. Mago is Italian for 'magician', too.
