While the Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane was fluffing his lines at one end of the pitch, Fabio Silva was preparing to rewrite the script at the other. His late equaliser for Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker must be the most important goal of his career. The first touch was perfection to protect the ball and give him just enough space to arrow a shot into the far corner with his second.
An 89th-minute equaliser away to Bayern Munich to maintain Dortmund's unbeaten record. There is a feeling within Dortmund that he needed this as a reward for his efforts. Speaking to goalkeeper Gregor Kobel afterwards, he made the point that forwards need goals to feel good.
Stealing the show from Kane could be a transformative moment. Silva's potential has long been debated. He was just 18 when Wolves committed £30m to sign him from Porto, the club's chairman talking of a generational talent.
Nominated for the Golden Boy award, this was the very definition of the precocious wonderkid. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player But thrust into Premier League action before he was ready proved a struggle. Sixty-two appearances in the competition yielded only four goals, with mixed fortunes on loan at Anderlecht, PSV and Rangers before more promising signs at Las Palmas in LaLiga.
When he finally left Wolves to sign permanently for Dortmund last year, Silva added a seventh different European league to his ledger. But after a first Bundesliga season in which he was largely relegated to the bench, an eighth looked likely in the summer. Speaking to Silva in August after he scored in the German Super Cup against Bayern, he did not rule out a departure from Dortmund.
"I don't know what is going to happen," he said. "Of course, I want to start more games, I want to be more important to this team." When those comments were put to Silva on Saturday, he acknowledged that there was some uncertainty. "Of course, in the transfer window there were too many noises around me, but this is normal, it is part of football." A conversation changed things.
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