Lavia started for the first time since early November, while Essugo replaced him in the 65th minute and ended up playing an hour after the epic Cup tie went to extra-time. It was the young Portuguese midfielder’s first appearance of the season, and first in domestic competitions. Welcome to English football!

Essugo provided a moment of class to set up Alejandro Garnacho’s goal that for a long while looked like it would separate the teams. Lavia meanwhile backed up recent sub appearances with more substantial time on the pitch, and Liam Rosenior was delighted they could both feature so prominently.

‘We are coming into a period of games where Romeo Lavia can be really important for us,’ said the head coach.

‘He has to play minutes. We have to get him up to speed, and we have to give Dario Essugo the time on the pitch. They were very good.

‘It’s brilliant for Romeo to get his sixty minutes because we’ve done his rehab in a different way. We have been more patient and built him up in a different way.

‘Any player who has been out for four months is not going to be perfect, but his performance coming on at Arsenal was top, his performance at Villa was very good. He’s a top player, but you can’t expect perfection from a player who has been out for four months.

‘For them to both get sixty minutes in is brilliant because we will need everyone for the run-in.’