Wayne Rooney's kick at Jordon Mutch was an unwanted reminder of the demons that can swamp the striker's mind and which may yet affect Manchester United's title defence and England's prospects at the World Cup in Brazil.
The Liverpudlian is the prime asset for club and country, but his volatility continues to concern. Rooney should make no apology for operating on the edge, but it still appears to be a case of when, rather than if, that vital competitive streak will mutate into self-damaging anger and disciplinary trouble that could seriously impact on United and England.
Rooney now stands a booking away from an automatic ban after the yellow card he received at Cardiff took him to four, having also received one on England duty in last month's 2-0 win over Poland, when the national team's passage to Brazil was sealed.
Seven minutes into United's 2-2 draw at Cardiff on Sunday, Mutch received a thwack to his leg from Rooney and suddenly we were taken back two years to Montenegro and the red card that ruled the Englishman out of the opening two games at Euro 2012. Watch the clip again and the swing of the right boot Rooney aims at Miodrag Dzudovic in Podgorica is close to a carbon copy of the lunge at Mutch n Sunday.
While Rooney was shown only a yellow card by Neil Swarbrick, the referee, Graeme Souness, a Sky Sports pundit, was convinced of the forward's folly. "I don't know what Wayne is thinking of," he said. "He's got an exploding head, we know that. That's just borne out of frustration.
"He should be off, there's no argument. Why the ref has given him a yellow card is beyond me. He's got a great view of it, he's keeping up with the incident all the time. If he's booked him, he's seen something. If he sees that, it's a sending off."
Following the Dzudovic incident, Rooney was contrite, apologising to the defender and moving publicly to admit his mistake. Yet after Malky Mackay claimed in the post-game briefing that Swarbrick's booking was correct (on Monday morning, the Cardiff manager admitted he wanted to avoid an FA charge and maintain focus on his side's display) Rooney took to Twitter to lay into Souness and Martin Tyler, the match commentator, for their comments.
The striker highlighted an incident between Gary Medel and Marouane Fellaini during the match in which the former appeared to punch the Belgian, with Rooney questioning why Souness had not criticised that. He wrote: "Just watched game back. I agree mine was bad tackle and ref dealt with it. And Martin Tyler didn't shut up about it all game."
Another tweet, referring to Medel, read: "Then someone slaps someone in face and he doesn't speak a word about it. I like Martin but that's poor from him."
"Sourness [sic] the rules are u kick out u should be off. Souness medel gives left hook he's done his job. Haha brilliant."
David Moyes currently has a mini-injury crisis to negotiate. Phil Jones, Michael Carrick, Nemanja Vidic and Shinji Kagawa are all at varying stages of recovery. But it was the absence of Robin van Persie from the squad that travelled to south Wales which placed greater focus on Rooney. If he had been sent off then United might have dropped all three points as Rooney went on to score the opener and create the second for Patrice Evra from a corner.
Van Persie is the club's sole other world-class performer, so Moyes must hope his groin problem will heal in time allow him to be in contention for Wednesday's Champions League group game at Bayer Leverkusen.
The Dutchman has eight goals in 13 appearances for United, Rooney has eight in 16. But even if Van Persie does recover, Rooney's status as United's totem, the emblem of attacking verve and fight that runs through the DNA of his club, means Moyes – and Roy Hodgson – can ill afford for him to self-combust.
Rooney, of course, has been sent off at a World Cup. In 2006 he stamped on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho during the quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen that England went on to lose by penalties. At the last World Cup in South Africa, the 28-year-old again had to apologise – this time to England supporters – after an insipid 0-0 draw with Algeria in a group game. "Nice to see your own fans booing you. That's what loyal support is," he snarled towards a TV camera as he walked off.
The mea culpa came the next day: "Last night, on reflection, I said things in the heat of the moment that came out of frustration of both our performance and the result. For my part I apologise for any offence caused by my actions at the end of the game." The hope is that the suspensions, the apologies and the harm to Rooney's career are not about to repeat.
