Apart from confirming Zlatan Ibrahimovic's sense of theatre, the main lesson to be learned from Manchester United's 5-2 friendly win against Galatasaray on Saturday is that Jose Mourinho has the most competitive squad in the Premier League.
Mourinho used 22 players in Gothenburg and will soon be able to add the injured Chris Smalling and incoming Paul Pogba to that.
The big test for the United boss as he assesses the players in another tough double training session at Carrington on Monday is finding the right XI, not only for Sunday's Community Shield against Leicester City but beyond.
Truthfully, only goalkeeper David de Gea and £100million Pogba when he arrives could be guaranteed as starters. For everyone else, it'll be a fight.
Ibrahimovic delighted his adoring Swedish fan club with a spectacular overhead kick goal four minutes into debut, but on overall performance his half-time replacement Marcus Rashford was more dynamic and threatening.
Wayne Rooney scored twice from No 10 but faces competition there from Juan Mata, who also scored, and £28million signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Mourinho started the game with what he regarded his strongest XI but his two holding midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 Ander Herrera and Morgan Schneiderlin were outshone in the second half by Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini who helped the team overturn a 2-1 deficit at the interval.
The United manager has already pruned his first-team squad because of numbers with World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger and one-time whizzkid Adnan Januzaj among those left at home to train with the under 21s.
But for those who have made the cut, they believe Mourinho is up to giving everyone a chance. Daley Blind, derided as a Louis van Gaal teacher's pet who would be jettisoned by the new man, has been one of United's better performers in their three pre-season games to date and not put off by fighting with Smalling, £30million Eric Bailly and Phil Jones for a place in the middle of defence, or Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo at left-back.
'People made a mistake very quickly of writing me off. But nothing was said by the manager and just like all the other guys I want to work very hard and get my spot in the team,' said the Dutch international.
'I'm confident with my own qualities so I have to show it over and over again. I think I've done a great job until now and we will see how it ends.
'This is a great manager with his own plans and we've already learned a lot as a team. He is very honest. We know Manchester United is a big club with a lot of competition and that is what makes it a big club. You have show your best as a player and be confident.
'You can never really have assurances in football but I believe if you work hard, you will get chances. What I'm saying is not only for me but everyone in the squad. I want to be part of the team.'
That kind of attitude is exactly what Mourinho is trying to build after the cobwebs of the disastrous tour to China were blown away in southern Sweden.
After Ibrahimovic's early goal, United trailed at the interval to goals from Sinan Gumus and Bruma.
But they scored four goals in 12 second-half minutes, two from Rooney followed by Fellaini and Mata from close range. Rooney's second was a penalty, earned by Rashford's blistering pace while Antonio Valencia also impressed with three assists.
Mourinho now has two games, Wayne Rooney's testimonial versus Everton on Wednesday and the Community Shield at Wembley, to fine tune things before the big kick off in the Premier League.
'The most important thing is to give minutes to the players. We lost the week in China and some of the boys who played trained two days.
'Monday is a double training session. They needed to play at high tempo for 30 or 40 minutes. We need time and we don't have time.'
Zlatan was mobbed from the moment United touched down in Gothenburg to the moment they left, barely 12 hours.
The 34-year-old heavyweight, with championships won in Holland, Italy, Spain and France, is already proving an influential figure in the United dressing-room.
He'll probably light up Old Trafford with some fantastic goals this season but it's experience of coping with expectation that United will hope he can really help with players who have struggled in the three seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
'We have a big leader in our dressing room,' said Herrera on Ibrahimovic. 'We are going to follow him and with the experience of Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick also we are very optimistic about the future.
'I have watched him for a long time so it was no surprise he scored such a fantastic goal. Our strikers all have different qualities. Ibra is more of a target man while Rashford can go more to the spaces because he is so quick and fast. I think it is good for the manager to have different options.
'We want to be a tough block to play against this season, a compact team, but of course when we have the ball we'll try to be direct and close down the opposition as quick as possible.
'We are all going to learn from Ibra. It is a unique opportunity for me and the other players like Marcus to learn from a legend like him and I hope to take advantage of that.'
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