The joy and the heartbreak, the agony and the ecstasy.
And having come within a single kick of the greatest prize, one nightmare instant when the ground went from under John Terry's feet to deny him the moment he has craved all his life summed up the brutal difference between winning and losing the one that matters most.
Last night, as the rain teemed down on the Luzhniki Stadium, Avram Grant looked set to show he was the Special One, Sir Alex Ferguson appeared on the verge of suffering a defeat which might have haunted all his days.
Terry had walked up like Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole before him, ready to make Cristiano Ronaldo pay for his own solitary weakness by planting the ball past Edwin Van Der Sar and claiming the Champions League.
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Maybe Terry would not have been taking it had Didier Drogba's stupidity not seen him pick up the most needless red card you will ever see.
We will never really know and still it would have been the fairytale finish, the perfect end, exultation for Terry and Grant, whose Blues future seems bleak.
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