A bespectacled Ruud van Nistelrooy stopped for a lengthy conversation with his fellow Dutchman Nathan Ake as they walked towards their respective team buses to take them out of Wembley Stadium.
The pair looked relaxed as they chatted away and at one point van Nistelrooy, wearing a sleek Manchester United coaching tracksuit, broke into a warm smile.
Perhaps Ake had mentioned how relieved Manchester City were that he was no longer playing, otherwise Pep Guardiola would have been staring at a fourth consecutive defeat in the Community Shield.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for United between 2001 and 2006, returned to Old Trafford over the summer with Erik ten Hag giving him a wide brief as his assistant.