As United celebrated their winner, Rashford posted a picture on social media. “Yesssssssss! Love it lads,” was the caption, with two heart emojis for emphasis. Garnacho stayed silent.
Both had trained at Carrington on Sunday morning but neither had been selected for the City game.
Manchester was not short of rumour around the reason for their respective omissions.
Yet, when he came to explain, Amorim repeatedly stressed it was not a disciplinary issue.
The more you delved into his words, it was hard to escape the conclusion it boiled down to a lack of discipline, or at least slipped standards.
Amorim even used the recent round of redundancies among staff members to drive home the point that if his demands are not met, there will be consequences.
“Next week, next game, new life,” he said.
“For me it’s important; the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your team-mates, the way you push your team-mates.
“Everything is important. In our context, in the beginning of something, when we want to change a lot of things, when people in our clubs are losing their jobs, we have to make the standards really high.
“Today the team proved we can leave anyone out of the squad and manage to win if you play together.”
Amorim used the example of Jonny Evans to highlight that, with more of his squad fit, there will not always be a place for everyone, as the veteran defender found to his cost today.
Yet there is clearly a significant difference between Evans, at 36 enjoying an Indian summer in his career back at the club where it all started, and both Rashford and Garnacho.
Rashford is one of United’s highest earners. Garnacho one of its brightest young stars. Significantly, they both also prefer to play in the wide attacking role that does not exist in Amorim’s new-look team.
But where Amad has adapted quickly and flourished, evidently, Rashford and Garnacho have not.
“It’s a big talking point because he’s obviously seen things he doesn’t like,” former United skipper Roy Keane told Sky Sports. “But for us it’s not a big surprise because both players have been poor and he has said enough is enough.
“He is putting a marker down. Let’s see how they react to it. We have talked about attitude for the last couple of years. A new manager will be picking up on all this.”
The problem for Rashford in particular is that there have been issues in the past.
He was dropped by Ten Hag for a match at Wolves after missing the start of a team meeting and in January was axed by Ten Hag in response to finding out Rashford had stayed longer than scheduled on a planned trip to Belfast, consequently turning up late for training.
At 27, Rashford should be in the prime of his career but there is feeling of drift it appears Amorim is willing to confront head on.
