Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson came on in the 89th minute in the Reds' 2-1 victory against Southampton on Saturday.
Vice-captain James Milner started the match with the armband but departed the field in the 74th minute for Fabinho, meaning Virgil van Dijk took over as skipper.
Liverpool had been cruising 2-0 up until the 83rd minute, when summer signing Adrian passed the ball straight to Reds old boy Danny Ings, who was more than happy to make it 2-1.
This left Liverpool with a nervy finish - and manager Jurgen Klopp brought on Henderson for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to steady the defence for the last few minutes.
When Henderson came on, Van Dijk gestured for him to take the armband.
But eagle-eyed Liverpool fans noticed that Henderson waved the centre-back away and got straight into position ready to help see out the game.
The moment wasn’t picked up on commentary, but supporters on Reddit and Twitter were quick to praise the class from the skipper.
Twitter user @AdnanRiaz9 posted: “Absolute class from Jordan Henderson, who refused to take the captain's armband from Virgil van Dijk when he came on against Southampton.”
@SomakNeogi agreed, tweeting: "First thing Henderson does after coming on is to indicate and wave at Van Dijk to keep the arm-band with him for the rest of the match when he was coming up to hand it over.
"Not sure if anyone spotted it though. That's our Captain right here you folks.”
Kopites on Reddit also had their say, with user Awaytto posting: “He says two words to Virgil, 'Keep it'. Proper captain, the team means so much to him that he always thinks of them first.
"You can see how he celebrates with others after they score. First one to mob them, it’s like he scored it himself. Love the man.”
And ThunderHank simply posted: “This is my captain.”
Liverpool's in-game captain may change a fair bit this season given the amount of competitions Klopp's side are competing in and the rotation that will take place.
But Henderson made his mentality clear on Saturday that the match situation and the needs of the team always come first.
