The biggest cheer came from the Chelsea fans.
They were headed for a second successive league win in their title rivals' backyard, they were a goal and a man up, and they were about to be granted a final glimpse of perhaps their greatest player before he crosses the Atlantic to join New York City FC.
Frank Lampard was serenaded on to the pitch from the Chelsea fans. Seven minutes later, the Manchester City supporters were chorusing his name.
It was not about nostalgia as much as the here and now. A man with divided loyalties had scored a crucial goal.
He made his reputation that way. More than his economical passing, his energetic running, his ever-present spells in the side, Lampard’s colossal contribution could be measured in goals.
There were 211 of them for Chelsea, spread over 13 seasons, scored at a rate that most strikers would envy but delivered from midfield.
There is now one for Manchester City, scored against his former team.
Lampard leaves in January and is a fringe player; his first goal may also prove his last. Yet should City defend their title, it will prove a seminal strike.
Without it, City were headed for consecutive home defeats and Chelsea were set to go eight points clear.
Then came the reminder that, even at 36, he remains a magnificent finisher. David Silva chipped a pass forward, James Milner centred and Lampard volleyed past Thibaut Courtois.
City is a long-term project and Lampard is a short-term signing. Every now and then, short-termism makes sense.
City were short of midfielders and Englishmen alike. Lampard is both, was available and arrived, albeit from their sister club, without a transfer fee.
As Manuel Pellegrini likes to point out, the veteran did not want to leave Chelsea. He was not offered another deal. He did not celebrate when he scored against them.
Perhaps, Jose Mourinho may reflect, it was his fault. He made Lampard. Not in the sense that he inherited a poor player, but he transformed him from good to one who ranks among the Chelsea greats.
Without Mourinho, it was inconceivable that Lampard would have been named the second-best player on the planet. With him, he ranked behind only Ronaldinho in the 2005 voting.
His startling improvement represented managerial alchemy.
Pellegrini, Mourinho’s old enemy, was a belated beneficiary of the old-timer’s excellence.
The Chilean looked further into the future with another selection. As Martin Demichelis, who has benefited from his intransigence, knows better than most, Pellegrini is an obstinately loyal man.
So there was something significant in Pellegrini's decision to demote his long-term ally and give Eliaquim Mangala his debut.
The Frenchman, the most expensive defender in the history of British football, acquitted himself admirably. So, too, did the supplier of Lampard’s goal.
Pellegrini is belatedly acquiring faith in City's other English outfield player, who was under used last season. The unflappable Milner excels at the basic things: winning the ball back, tracking runners, working in tandem with his full-back.
They are attributes that make him more suited to the bigger games. So, too, does his versatility. He started off on the right wing and ended up at left-back once City had been reduced to 10 men by Pablo Zabaleta’s dismissal.
He fashioned Lampard’s leveller, enabling the veteran to wrest the spotlight from another prolific midfielder.
City fielded the only two men to ever manage 20 Premier League goals in a season from the middle of the park.
The much-criticised Yaya Toure was better but not brilliant, committed without deciding the game. The hullabaloo surrounding him may die down.
In contrast, Lampard’s predatory instincts remain very much alive.
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