If only Simon Hooper could travel back in time.
He would have avoided a comically irate Erling Haaland.
He would have avoided the ire of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and tens of thousands of supporters crammed inside the Etihad Stadium.
Instead, he was left to live with being the centre of controversy during City's Premier League clash against Tottenham in December 2023.
And it was a storm he unwillingly created all on his own.
Deep in second half stoppage time and with the contest level at 3-3, Tottenham defender Emerson Royal attempted to nick the ball off of Haaland in City's half as they looked to launch a counter.
The Brazilian clipped the City superstar and although he fell to his knees, Haaland quickly popped to his feet and played a perfect ball over the top of Tottenham's defence into the path of Jack Grealish.
Hooper signalled City had the advantage upon Haaland falling over, but just as Grealish looked to streak clear and bear down on goal, he blew his whistle to bring the play back to the original spot of the foul.
How did the City players react to Hooper's call?
An utterly perplexed Grealish stood with his arms outstretched, scarcely able to believe the whistle had been blown.
Haaland immediately sprinted over to Hooper and had his hands on his head.
Several other City players soon formed a crowd around Hooper, who pleaded for calm amid the chaos.
At one point, as many as six of City's stars surrounded Hooper.
The 3-3 scoreline ultimately remained intact, but Hooper's decision would be critiqued long into the night by pundits and even players.
On his X account, Haaland reposted a video of the incident and wrote the caption: "Wtf."
Guardiola was less scathing in his analysis of the incident, although he too was left scratching his head.
"It is hard when you review the image, the referee decides to blow the whistle after he has already said to play on.
"After the pass, the whistle, so I do not understand this action."
'He was devastated'
The controversial incident was reviewed just days after on the Match Officials Mic'd Up show, where PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb broke down the major decisions that occurred over the weekend.
The Grealish incident was addressed and Webb stated he could 'understand the disappointment that City felt on this one'.
But what was most notable during the analysis was how Webb lifted the lid on the mental anguish endured by Hooper in the aftermath.
Webb began his explanation by pointing out VAR 'has no part to play', meaning it was squarely Hooper's call.
"We're always looking, as officials, to have that positive influence on the game, by trying to identify occasions when we can allow the game to play through an advantage," Webb said.
"He decides to penalise just at the moment as the ball's about to go, he blows the whistle, and then realises that a wonderful advantage was available.
"He was devastated. He'd refereed the game really well for 93 minutes, but he knew this is going to be the only talking point. It would have been a wonderful advantage."
Luckily for City, the result had little bearing on their run to a remarkable fourth-straight Premier League title that season.
Guardiola's side finished at the top of the heap with 91 points, two more than second-placed Arsenal.
It also had no major effect on Tottenham, as they finished in fifth with 66 points, two behind Aston Villa who took up the final Champions League qualification spot.
As for Hooper, he remains a Premier League referee.
But for a few brief seconds on that night in December 2023, Hooper may have preferred he was in a less public line of work.