Their victory at the DW Stadium had exposed the distance between what United were supposed to be and what they had actually become.
It had also made Wigan's own achievements impossible to overlook.
Wigan were becoming a team that nobody wanted to face.
It had beaten Chelsea across two legs in the league.
It had beaten Tottenham, battered Liverpool, faced an on-the-rise Arsenal team and survived, and even played against Pep's dominant City side and held their own even though they lost.
By the time the evening turned into night, the match had escaped the boundaries of English football.
Clips of Leo's performance began circulating across social media, separated from the full broadcast and passed around by people who had never watched a Wigan match before.
His pass to Carlo, the finish that made it four-two, the corner that found Henderson, and his second goal were replayed from different angles.
Some viewers watched the highlights because they wanted to see United's collapse.
