A fortnight ago, as Johor Darul Ta'zim opened their 2024-25 AFC Champions League Elite campaign, Arif Aiman singlehandedly earned them a point with a fine double in a 2-2 draw against Shanghai Port.
On Tuesday, he would have been relieved to have others helping him along the way although there was still one inevitable outcome.
As JDT produced a fine display to claim a 3-0 win over Shanghai Shenhua at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Arif was once again the star of the show.
The Malaysia international opened the scoring after 11 minutes, created countless other opportunities that should have resulted in goals, and basically tore the opposition defence completely apart.
Most players despise getting substituted especially early on in the game yet, when Shenhua leftback Xu Haoyang was replaced at the break, he might have been grateful to have been put out of his misery -- having been completely run ragged by the JDT forward.
It started, quite literally, from the opening whistle when the hosts immediately won possession and Arif burst past Xu before whipping in a brilliant cross that took out the last defender -- only for Jorge Obregón to mess up a shot at goal from inside the six-yard box that should really have broken the deadlock inside 15 seconds.
With JDT making a fast start, Obregón spurned another opportunity in the 8th minute when he found himself through on goal but decided to be too cheeky and could only watch on as his dinked effort trickled harmlessly wide.
Still, in the 11th minute, JDT would get their just rewards for the early enterprise they were showing -- and it should not come as any surprise that it was Arif who provided the breakthrough, receiving possession from Juan Muñiz down the right and cutting inside a defender before drilling a low shot from a tricky angle that caught Bao Yaxiong out at his near post.
More magic down the wing from Arif saw JDT put the ball into the back of the net again in the 23rd minute as Óscar Arribas ingeniously flick home a low right-wing delivery and -- although the goal was correctly ruled out for offside -- Héctor Bidoglio's charges would not be denied a second for much longer.
After his earlier misses, Obregón would make amends when he got away from his marker to meet a looping cross from Murilo with a deftly-executed header back across goal and into the bottom corner.
With just 26 minutes on the clock, JDT were leading 2-0. It could easily have been five, and it was largely down to the sheer havoc Arif was causing in the final third.
Although Shenhua offered more resistance in the second half, the hosts never looked in real danger of relinquishing their stranglehold on the contest.
Arif continue to dazzle, producing another brilliant run and pass in the 72nd minute that should have been converted by Obregón -- although he had again drifted offside.
A third goal would arrive with ten minutes remaining; Muñiz deciding to show it was not all a one-man show with a sumptuous 25-yard freekick that had Bao rooted to the spot.
And it wasn't. It never is a one-man show.
On the domestic front in the Malaysia Super League, it is often the prolific Bérgson da Silva who leads the way for JDT, while others such as Heberty and Fernando Forestieri also get their turn to shine.
But under the brights lights of an ACL Elite evening, at least for the first two outings of JDT's campaign, there is no refuting who the star of the show has been.