A few seconds were all it took. One spontaneous moment set social media alight and dropped Barcelona into the middle of a new transfer storm, with German coach Hansi Flick and Spanish star Rodri, Manchester City's midfield captain, at the centre of it.
He never said a word, but his face gave everything away. A video clip published by the Spanish newspaper "AS" caught the German coach's reaction the moment a direct question ambushed him: was Barcelona's interest in signing the Manchester City star and Ballon d'Or winner, Rodri, real?
Flick, a man known for his calm and composure, couldn't keep a straight face. A flicker of fluster, then a wry smile and an unmistakable shift in expression, before he settled on silence and a diplomatic dodge. His body language, observers reckoned, hid plenty.
The coach refused to play the guessing game over names. His reaction, though, revived a dream that has occupied Barcelona's fans for years: signing a holding midfielder of world-class quality who can dictate the team's rhythm.
Rodri's name sits top of the wish list in Catalonia, especially with the sporting management chasing a midfield reinforcement blessed with experience and leadership, exactly the qualities the Manchester City captain brings. But the Catalan club's tangled finances and the player's enormous market value push the deal, for now, into the realm of the impossible.
Between the desire Flick's face betrayed and the reality of pulling the deal off, the question hangs in the air. Was that smile just an escape from an awkward question, or a quiet admission that Rodri is the biggest dream of the new Barcelona?