It is the reaction of the nearby players which usually tells you how serious an injury is. When Ruud van Nistelrooy started throwing up after seeing Alan Smith on the ground at Anfield 4 years ago, we had a good indication something was seriously wrong!

Against Rangers, Kirk Broadfoot was waving wildly at the bench after Valencia went to ground. From then you knew something was broken.

After the game, Sir Alex Ferguson said we might be facing the season without Valencia.

“It is a bad blow for the boy,” he said. “It is similar to the injury Alan Smith got and you are talking about the rest of the season.”

However, at Carringoton, Valencia has made cracking progress while working on an underwater treadmill, which was initially designed by NASA to replicate the sense of weightlessness in space, and further rehabilitation in Carrington’s hydrotherapy pools.

There is talk of the winger coming back in January now and will be selected for the next Champions League squad for post group stage games.