Supporters were lost in ecstasy after Manchester United beat Manchester City 2-0 at Old Trafford in March 2020.
The thousands of fans that poured into the streets around the stadium after that game might have revelled in the moment for just a minute longer if they had known that they wouldn't get the opportunity to return to Old Trafford for another 14 months.
The pilgrimage to Old Trafford - the conversations with friends, pints in the pub and the sound of the programme sellers - is the highlight of many fans' week. Some consider it a few hours of pure escapism from the mundane burdens of everyday life. Others have the club deep in their family veins, but what connects all those thousands in the stadium on match day is their love for United.
There has been no way to hide from the pandemic. It has decimated everything that was once taken for granted and football was no exception to that. Old Trafford was soulless without supporters. It felt cold and sterile as millions watched games from home.
United played Leeds on the opening day of the season and there was a celebration of normality with Old Trafford at full capacity for the first time since the Manchester derby in March 2020. There was an explosion of colour and noise on the terraces while chants echoed around the stadium. It was electric. You could no longer hear every word from the players. Football was actually back.
There had been great loss to get there, but the UK government - among its extensive failures in handling the situation - had successfully rolled out the vaccination programme and they promised that was the key to a prosperous future after a bleak winter.
Four months on from that 5-1 win against Leeds on the opening day and it's not just Manchester United that has gone backwards.
It's almost the two year anniversary of the first lockdown and yet speculation is rife that the nation will be forced into restrictions again after Christmas. Covid-19 cases are rising and the Premier League has taken the decision to postpone multiple fixtures.
United's games against Brentford and Brighton were postponed this week after at least 19 first-team players and staff members returned positive tests following the Reds' win versus Norwich. With no football, that precious routine has been lost again.
Sources have indicated that United have a low percentage of players who are double-vaccinated and there seems to be a wider growing problem among the league's players. It was claimed in October that only 68 per cent of players were fully vaccinated.
The arrogance of that set of players isn't really a surprise, but their elite physical condition doesn't make them immune to the effects of COVID. It doesn't discriminate and Dean Henderson will tell you that. He struggled to return to fitness after contracting it.
If the country is thrown into lockdown again then it will be down to the selfishness of those across the nation who are yet to be vaccinated or fully jabbed. There is no longer an excuse for not taking it the vaccine up when the stakes are so high.
Millions of people shouldn't have to suffer in lockdown due to the unvaccinated minority that will inevitably take up the NHS' hospital beds. The financial and mental health damage that lockdowns cause can't be underestimated and life now needs to go on.
The only way for that to happen is through vaccinations. In an era of fake news and distorted truths, there is scepticism over the vaccine but the experts' advice - they endorse the vaccine - should always be listened to while Facebook status' shouldn't.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has recently written about this. "If I come across friends or people I care about in my life away from football and they tell me they haven't had a jab yet, I do my best to encourage them to listen to experts," Klopp wrote.
"It's never a case of: "listen to me" – it's always: 'listen to those who know. ignore those who pretend to know. Ignore lies and misinformation. Listen to people who know best. If you do that, you end up wanting the vaccine and the booster.
"The 'stick to football' abuse so misses the point. Yes, I know about football having spent my entire life in the game.
"My view on the vaccination isn't from my own imagination. That's the point – I listen to experts. People who are smarter than I ever could be have come to the rescue of society by creating this for the world. We are very blessed to have such incredible access to it."
United fans will rarely agree with anything Liverpool related, but sharing Klopp's view on the vaccine is the only way forward.
