It is always the way when old friends are reunited. Some act like nothing has ever changed and carry on as they did before; others are awkward and reserved, unsure of what to do.
As Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho stood a few yards apart, waiting for the blockbuster Champions League semi-final to begin, you could see the two varying reactions of two very different men as they came face-to-face with Liverpool for the first time since leaving Anfield.
Suarez was never going to suffer stage fright and never going to let the good times he had on Merseyside affect him. He laughed and joked with James Milner in the seconds before kick-off but then the whistle went and he was transformed.
Snapping and snarling, chasing and arguing, the Uruguayan was exactly how the Liverpool fans remembered him. Suarez is the best No 9 in world football and he would go on to show why when opening the scoring after 26 minutes with a terrific finish.
Nobody could say Liverpool hadn't been warned. On these pages last Saturday, he promised that he would celebrate if he got a goal and he was true to his word. Quite right, too. This is the highest level of football, the feelings of others don't matter when chasing the biggest prize.
So Suarez did what Suarez used to do. But what about Coutinho?
In that little episode, as Suarez and Milner nudged shoulders, Coutinho stretched his hamstrings and twisted his hips; he fidgeted and clasped his hands together in the manner of a pupil who was about to take a test he didn't particularly want to sit.
The previous evening, Jurgen Klopp had been asked questions he didn't particularly want to answer for fear of creating what he described as 's*** stories'. Every little word around Coutinho at the moment is magnified and his old manager had no inclination to create more pressure.
Coutinho, to be fair, began with positivity. The speed of the contest was like a giant game of pinball, with passes ricocheting here, there and everywhere, and the Brazilian's silky touch was first evident in the third minute when he exchanged passes with Ivan Rakitic to create the opening chance.
It looked promising. He kept finding pockets of space in between Joe Gomez, who had been picked to give Liverpool more protection at right-back, and Joel Matip and you wondered whether he was going to light this wonderful venue up.
That £146million price tag brings huge expectation and such numbers ensure the locals demand show-stopping performances when the European Cup is on the line. Now was the time for him to maintain the start.
There was in the 10th minute, firing a shot straight at Alisson Becker; then again in the 16th minute, with a shot that drifted wide of the far post – though it would have been ruled out for offside had it actually hit the target.
But the tempo could not be sustained. As the game seemed to speed up and Liverpool took control with a brand of brave passing, Coutinho began to slow down and disappear from view. Suarez and Lionel Messi were doing their bit but Coutinho had little influence.
An incident before half-time summed everything up. When Coutinho didn't get in front of a Liverpool defender to make himself available, Suarez didn't spare him and unloaded a verbal volley to express his displeasure.
The scene continued to regress in the second half and there were whistle around Camp Nou when he was dispossessed by the excellent Joel Matip. Coutinho was replaced shortly after, with Ernesto Valvedre turning to Nelson Semedo to see the game out.
Suarez would finish the evening beaming from ear-to-ear as Barcelona extended their advantage. Coutinho, by contrast, was nowhere to be seen.
