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Alejandro Garnacho returned to Old Trafford on Saturday evening for the first time since his summer departure from Manchester United.
The winger completed a £40 million switch to Chelsea late in the summer transfer window, and ended a five-year association with United, who he joined as a youth player from Atletico Madrid.
His exit was reportedly triggered by a disagreement with manager Ruben Amorim, which led to him being told he could leave the club. His return was met with a chilly reception from the home fans, who booed him as he disembarked from the team coach and during the pre-match warm-up.
Garnacho found himself on the bench for Chelsea, but his hopes of stepping onto the Old Trafford pitch were dashed when the Blues were reduced to 10 men after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was sent off just five minutes into the match.
This prompted Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca to make two of his allowed five substitutions in an attempt to stabilise his side. However, United capitalised on their numerical advantage.
Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro put the Red Devils 2-0 ahead after 37 minutes. United were reduced to 10 men themselves just before half time when Casemiro was shown a second yellow card.
The Blues clawed one goal back through Trevoh Chalobah with 10 minutes remaining, but United managed to hold on for the victory. Garnacho remained an unused substitute.
Whilst the reception from supporters for the former United player was hardly welcoming, it appears that Garnacho did receive a warmer welcome from some of his ex-teammates.
A picture emerged on Instagram - though subsequently removed - showing Garnacho alongside United winger Amad in the Old Trafford tunnel, having exchanged shirts. Both players are represented by the lead3rs agency, which was tagged in the post
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Following the final whistle, Chelsea manager Maresca explained why Garnacho remained unused on the substitutes' bench throughout the contest.
"The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them.
"I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five. This is the reason why.
"And then the other one, Garna, he was ready to go on, but then Wes [Fofana] asked for the change, because he was tired after a long time, so we changed and we decided to go for Tyrique [George], and the idea was to give Garnacho minutes."
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