Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted as the Old Trafford faithful unfurled a banner to mark his upcoming birthday immediately before Manchester United 's clash with Burnley.
The legendary former Red Devils manager will reach the milestone age of 80 on New Year's Eve.
The Stretford End celebrated the occasion by unveiling a banner which read "Happy 80th Sir Alex" ahead of kick-off in the Premier League clash.
The Amazon Prime Video cameras quickly picked out Ferguson in the crowd and the Scot was beaming from ear to ear as he spotted the tribute in his honour.
He soon had another reason to smile as United took the lead just eight minutes into the match courtesy of a fine Scott McTominay strike set up by Cristiano Ronaldo on the edge of the area.
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Ronaldo, who fired over when through on goal just two minutes earlier, collected Mason Greenwood's pass and his heavy touch fell into the path of McTominay, who curled into the corner beyond Wayne Hennessey.
An energised United were quickly out of the blocks despite the rigours of the festive schedule having dropped points in their 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Monday.
The physical demand on players between Christmas and into the New Year has been in the spotlight in recent weeks amid rising coronavirus cases, with Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel leading the outcry.
But United, who saw matches against Brentford and Brighton postponed in mid-December, stamped their authority on the match after a flurry of Burnley attacks in the opening seconds.
Speaking in the Amazon Prime Video studio, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry insisted the hectic festive schedule in the United Kingdom is a positive feature of the calendar.
He said: "I think everyone is mixing Covid and festive period. I do understand now with what is happening with Covid some managers are like, 'hang on a minute this is happening while we are playing the most games in the league.'
"I get it but they always have been and it always will be, I think. This is part of the culture here, people go on Boxing Day and watch a game.
"I do understand people I think are confusing the Covid and fixtures because if there was no Covid around, I think people would have complained so much.
"Especially teams at the top, let's be honest, they have players to deal with that and Liverpool the other day didn’t play and then ended up not winning at Leicester."
