It was, in many ways, wholly in-keeping with Naby Keita's debut season at Liverpool.
The £52million midfielder was handed his biggest game to date since becoming a Reds player when he was picked in a midfield three by Jurgen Klopp against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.
For Keita, the Camp Nou clash will have been exactly the type of evening he will have envisioned starring in when he agreed to leave RB Leipzig and join Klopp's Anfield revolution in August 2017.
The all-action midfielder will have had designs on stamping his mark indelibly on the tie when he found out his name was on the team sheet.
Here was the perfect chance to showcase what he was all about in one of world football's most iconic settings. A gift-wrapped opportunity to truly 'arrive' at Anfield .
Instead, Keita wouldn't make the half-hour mark as a groin injury put paid to his hopes of showing why Klopp was so desperate to sign him two years ago.
In truth, it's been that sort of campaign for the gifted Guinean. Every flash of promise has seemingly been followed up by a disappointing setback .
Keita was arguably in the form of his Liverpool career before he pulled up during the first half of that crushing 3-0 defeat to Lionel Messi and co.
Three goals in his previous five appearances saw Keita head into the biggest game of his season with his tail up.
The 24-year-old's swagger was evident in the early stages as the Reds tried to take the game to Ernesto Valverde's Barca.
It would be short-lived for the man from Conakry though as Jordan Henderson replaced him on 24 minutes.
Disappearing into the bowels of Camp Nou will be Keita's last act in a Liverpool shirt this season after it was revealed on Thursday that his campaign is effectively over.
And on Friday, Klopp confirmed the "bad news" that he will be Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp confirms Naby Keita injury news and gives three-word update on Roberto Firmino
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After overcoming various hurdles throughout the season to finally earn the trust of his manager, a season-ending injury will be tough to take for Keita.
It's lamentable that Liverpool will be without his invention and creative spark as they continue to fight it out on two fronts in the closing weeks of the campaign.
The fact that Reds supporters won't be able to see Keita in competitive action until August has only compounded the misery inflicted in Catalonia.
But there silver lining for Keita and Klopp will be the huge promise the midfielder has shown in recent weeks. He is starting to adapt to how the Reds operate and his influence was steadily growing.
Liverpool cannot afford to lick their wounds and feel sorry for themselves right now.
While the prospect appears slim, the Reds are still battling for a Champions League and Premier League double.
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Keita's dynamism will be missed for the final three or, as unlikely as it may seem now, four games of the campaign, but Reds fans now know the type of player they will be getting next season.
It's been far from a disastrous or disappointing maiden term for Keita on Merseyside, but there last few weeks have shown that there is still so much to come from such a purely gifted footballer.
And as he gears up to cheer on his team-mates from the sidelines for the final days of the season, perhaps his desire to prove himself will only be heightened.
