The restart came quickly, almost abruptly, like Manchester City were trying to outrun the feeling that had settled in their chests.
The ball moved through the midfield trio almost by instinct.
De Bruyne kept moving inwards from the right while Foden stayed wide, stretching the backline with Rodri exchanging short passes at the edge of Barnsley's shape and testing for gaps.
For a few seconds, it looked promising.
The Etihad crowd leaned forward again, cheering them on as on one occasion, Haaland took it on the edge of the box, squared up Vladimir Petrovic, and tried to force the issue.
There was no space to run into, no angle to slip through, so he created one for himself.
He opened his body and smashed one toward the near post, but Jan Visser was already set, expecting just that.
He took two quick steps and parried it cleanly, the ball thudding into the advertising boards as the noise dipped.
