The end of RB Leipzig's desolate start to the Champions League was symbolic.
Coach Domenico Tedesco shook hands with his players after the final whistle and, as usual, gathered them in the center circle.
Of course, the 36-year-old wanted to thank his pros for their efforts despite the embarrassing 4-1 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk and give them a few positive words to take with them.
But the scene seemed like a farewell.
And he was: the morning after, the club announced the dismissal of the coach.
Co-trainers Andreas Hinkel and Max Urwantschky will also be relieved of their duties.
RB had won the DFB Cup under Tedesco just 109 days ago.
"The guys gave it their all, gave it their all.
I don't worry about anything else.
I'm the wrong contact person," said Tedesco the night before.
The right contact person, in this case Tedesco's boss Oliver Mintzlaff, did not go in front of the microphone after the anything but glamorous evening of the premier class.
The cup winner has not had another strong man, such as a sports director, who could back the criticized coach for some time.
Tedesco was on his own, as was his predecessor Jesse Marsch.
And although Mintzlaff is currently spending a lot of time signing Max Eberl as the new sports director, this deal comes too late for Tedesco.
The game this Saturday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) at Borussia Dortmund will no longer be experienced by the coach, who was only hired in December last year, as RB manager.
The club announced when Tedesco was released that they wanted to be “informed promptly” about a successor arrangement.
After the embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on the most recent Bundesliga matchday, Marco Rose was discussed as the successor.
The 45-year-old lives in a suburb of Leipzig, is very familiar with the RB cosmos as a former Salzburg coach and is currently without a contract.
He also knows Eberl from their time together in Mönchengladbach.
It all sounds a bit like a fateful coincidence that is just beginning on Leipzig's Cottaweg.
Tedesco described the game against the Ukrainian champions as a "reflection of the season so far".
Leipzig put in an enormous amount of effort, but the result was simply not right.
In addition, there was an inexplicable dropout by captain Peter Gulacsi, which led to the 0:1.
The repeated deficit immediately after the equalization was then the knockout for Leipzig.
Xaver Schlager summarized the evening quite appropriately when the midfielder was asked about his first Champions League appearance in an RB jersey.
"It's like buying a new Ferrari and hitting a wall at 100," said the Austrian.
The Ferrari would then be a total loss.
RB's game, on the other hand, should be repairable, but not for Tedesco.
He has been without a job since Wednesday.