On a night in which he returned to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, Jose Mourinho failed to convince the world that there are more on the horizon.
The term may not have been coined until a few months later, but The Special One was born on a Champions League night in England in March of 2004.
That night, Jose Mourinho became known to the world when he sprinted down the Old Trafford touchline in celebration as his Porto side knocked Manchester United out in the round of 16.
Now, 11 years on, he was leading a club from his homeland on British soil for the first time since that famous evening, leading Benfica out against his former club Chelsea, where he established himself as one of the greatest managers in the world.
Between those two nights, he'd won numerous trophies including two Champions Leagues, but had also suffered numerous sackings including three from his last three jobs, which had all consisted of more bad times than good.
The question then, as he faced his past, was whether his glory days belonged to it, or whether the Special One from all those years ago lived on.
It took just two minutes of the match for it to become clear that he remained special in the eyes of Chelsea fans at least, with him blowing a kiss as the Stamford Bridge faithful sang the name of their former manager.
He had little else to smile about in the first half though, with his side going 1-0 down after 18 minutes and never looking like levelling things up before the break.
Shortly after it, the home fans sang his name again, which said a lot about how much of a threat they saw him and his side as; would they have been cheering him on if they felt like he was going to ruin their evening?
When they did so for a third time, with three minutes of the match to go, it felt very much like they were taking pity on him. Like they'd bumped into an ex who wasn't doing so well, and were trying to cheer him up.
Losing 1-0 away to Chelsea with a weaker side is hardly a disaster for any old manager, but Mourinho isn't meant to be any old manager. He's meant to be the Special One.
Just over a decade ago, he'd triumphed over a Man Utd side much stronger than the Chelsea one he'd just lost to, in a match where the gulf between the two teams was much bigger. And yet this time around, it never felt like he was going to pull off such an upset again.
The stats may suggest he almost did so, but Benfica never really looked like scoring, and Chelsea never really had to come out of second gear.
Typically, Mourinho himself was bullish after the game.
He argued in the post-match conference that he's achieved success wherever he's gone, even in more recent times, and is confident he can do so at Benfica.
"My career took me to a position where everybody thinks I have magic to make things happen," he said.
"I left Man Utd after winning things. I left Tottenham after taking the club to a final. I left Roma after two European finals.
"(But) with me it's never enough. It's never enough. So if I am in the job, it's because I like to put myself on the line every day.
"I'm desperate to win the next match. That's the nature of things."
While he may be as charismatic and as motivated as ever though, even he must be doubt whether he's still the manager he once was.
Ultimately, it would take a brave man to bet against the fact that, when all is said and done, the times that will go down as his best are those that are already gone.
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