Brighton look a class above on and off the pitch

Then Caicedo scored on it to help Albion rout United 4-0.

There were so many aspects, so many sub-plots, so many special moments to this Amex night for the ages.

Truly for the ages – as the Seagulls fans cheered both their biggest Premier League win and players who kept them in the Football League in 1997.

Members of the 1996-97 team who stayed up almost as the Goldstone was being dismantled around them were cheered at half-time.

Then a record crowd at the club’s magnificent current home raised the roof as the class of 2022 turned on the style.

Old-fashioned football thinking suggested Albion would give someone a beating on their own pitch at some stage.

They had dominated their previous two home games without adding to a tally of three wins, two of them way back in early season.

But 4-0 going on six or seven was beyond wildest dreams.

And, as at Wolves, it was not just the numbers. It was the style.

They were looking to walk the ball in at one stage - and would have done had Diego Dalot not slid in to deny Alexis Mac Allister.

It is tempting to say Dalot was the one United player to show some fight.

But that is too easy – to say that the visitors didn’t care or didn’t try.

It is rather less palatable from a United viewpoint but they DID try. Albion were just a lot better than them.

A settled side, a formation which works, and players who have regained top form after a mid-season dip have combined to send Albion into the end of term on a high.

True, most of it has been on the road in terms of securing wins.

But they had been getting closer at home. As close as the width of Pascal Gross’s armpit to a victory over Southampton in the previous game.

Here, players and fans alike exploded off the starting blocks in a vibrant opening and never relented.

Not when United responded briefly to the shock of Caicedo sending them 1-0 down.

Not when a dangling leg by Caicedo allowed Cristiano Ronaldo a free-kick in Ward-Prowse territory (unlike Ward-Prowse, the United man blazed over).

Not when United, relieved to be just 1-0 down at half-time, made two changes.

And not even when, with the contest over, Ralf Rangnick’s side at least looked to get on the scoresheet.

Albion wanted the win and they wanted the clean sheet too.

Head coach Graham Potter clapped along with a chant about his blue and white army which boomed around the Amex near the end., Fans captured him shouting “Seeagullssss!” as he was mobbed on his way to his car some while after the game.

(And plenty of people had their phones out on Saturday for various reasons).

Potter has loved the awayday celebrations but been frustrated not to replicate that at home.

The Albion boss said: “It’s absolutely up there because we’ve had to suffer a little bit at home to say the least in terms of giving our supporters more happy memories and moments.

“But I think we made up for it today in some ways.

“Football is about winning but it’s also about parents bringing kids to the game and having a moment together and remembering the occasion and celebrating the victory and I think that’s what was special today.

“The guy on the DJ had some celebratory songs he hasn’t used for a while, so he was happy – it was a brilliant day.”

Caicedo has tackled his early games in the Premier League like a young man who was fed up of waiting.

He reached a new high here when he stretched out his left leg to control a clearance, then swung right-footed into a shot which seemed to catch David De Gea by surprise.

Gross and Solly March delighted down the right and, when Albion went more direct, Danny Welbeck should have done better than lob over.

But the performance, if anything, moved up a level after the break.

It was a whirlwind opening to the second half.

Have we seen the like before? Maybe the opening to the play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday six years ago.

But this time, as Alexis Mac Allister likes to put it, the ball wanted to go in.

The Argentinean produced superb work in the run-up to the overdue second goal, crashed home by Marc Cucurella into the top corner from Leandro Trossard’s lay-off.

Then Robert Sanchez pinged a 60-yard pass into the path of Cucurella before he and Trossard combined to send Gross in on goal.

The German took a good first touch, a sublime second and, with the third, dragged his shot at an angle wide of the wrong-footed De Gea.

Albion’s build-up play was superb for the fourth goal too, eventually bundled in by Trossard after Dalot had done well to clear off the line from Welbeck.

Mac Allister, Welbeck and Gross all went close to adding to the tally.

Sanchez made a trio of excellent, and very different, saves at the other end.

As the world watched (they were certainly watching in Argentina, Mac Allister said with a laugh), Albion outclassed United in all – yes, all – departments.

This magical evening, and tougher times which made it possible, will not be forgotten.

Albion: Sanchez; Veltman, Dunk, Cucurella; March (Lamptey 76), Bissouma, Caicedo, Trossard (Maupay 83), Gross, Mac Allister (Webster 67); Welbeck. Subs Not Used: Lallana, Alzate, Steele, Duffy, Offiah, Ferguson.

Goals: Caicedo 15,Cucurella 49,Gross 57,Trossard 60.

Man Utd: de Gea; Dalot, Lindelof, Varane, Alex Telles; McTominay, Matic (Cavani 46), Elanga (Fred 46), Mata (Maguire 70), Bruno Fernandes; Ronaldo. Subs Not Used: Jones, Lingard, Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Fernandez, Garnacho.

Booked: Ronaldo (45) foul, Dalot (47) foul.

Referee: Andy Madley.

Att: 31,637.