Rafa Benitez looked pretty much the same as he leaned against a wall in a corridor after the game at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday night.
Nice suit, blue shirt, small silver Liver Bird pinned to his buttonhole, neatly trimmed goatee, smile almost always on his lips.
But he didn't sound the same. Something's happened to the guy. Not something bad, necessarily. But something's changed nonetheless.
It's like he's auditioning for a re-run of that silly John Travolta movie, Face Off, where two guys swap face transplants.
It was still Rafa's face talking in Stoke but it was Jose Mourinho's voice saying it was time Sir Alex Ferguson shut his big mouth.
That's the real reason why what Benitez first said on Friday has caused such a stir: because it was so out of character.
