Wednesday, October 18th, and the hat-trick followed Demien home.
It played on every sports channel he passed through the airport, the same three replays looping under different anchors.
His phone had stopped buzzing sometime around midnight and started again the moment he switched it back on.
England qualification headlines sat stacked three deep across every app.
A knot of reporters waited outside Carrington's gates when the United internationals filtered back in, cameras already up before his car had fully stopped.
He walked into the building with his England bag over one shoulder and the marked match ball tucked under his arm.
McTominay reached him first, taking the ball and turning it to read the times written across it. "Twenty-two, twenty-seven, thirty-two," he read aloud. "That's disgusting."
"Midfielders scoring hat-tricks," Højlund said, shaking his head. "It's becoming a real problem for the rest of us."
