The book was open - how long would the Spaniard last?
Luque lasted only 13 minutes in a Reserve fixture last season against Sunderland when Glenn Roeder banished him to the Reserves, and that was only because it took the Mackems 13 minutes to tackle him!
He went down in typical Latin style as though pole-axed, even though the Sunderland player insisted he hadn't touched him.
This time, with it being a testimonial we expected better of him ... at least 20 minutes.
But with no-one seemingly willing to be a scape-goat and actually tackle him, Luque had no alternative but to pull the rabbit out of the hat ... 17 minutes gone ... and the old faithful ... GROIN STRAIN!
For the record, James Troisi scored United's opened and Shola Ameobi scored the other two.
Oh yes, and Mark Doninger was substitute for Luque, who hobbled off like "a brave little soldier".