Chelsea's Didier Drogba may be now out of contract, but he proved to be the match-winner as the Blues lifted their first Champions League title to make amends for his misery in Moscow.
Four years after being red-carded in the 2008 Champions League final defeat, the 34-year-old starred against Bayern Munich and his final spot-kick today sealed Chelsea's 4-3 penalty shoot-out win.
"I wanted to make Chelsea smile compared to the other time where we were all down and some were crying. So I'm happy we made them smile," he said.
"Conceding a goal 10 minutes before the end and equalising in the last minute and then extra-time. We gave everything.
"I don't know if we have enough energy to party tonight."
Having also scored in the 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Liverpool a fortnight ago, Drogba flirted with the villain's role four minutes into extra time on Saturday as his foul on Franck Ribery saw Bayern awarded a penalty.
But Bayern's ex-Chelsea wing Arjen Robben could only weakly hit to Petr Cech's right and his shot was quickly gathered.
Drogba worked tirelessly throughout, often back-tracking to help out in defence and grew in stature as the game wore on before keeping his cool to nail the final penalty past Munich's Manuel Neuer.
Having joined the Blues from Marseille in 2004, the Ivory Coast forward has said he will sit down with Chelsea's bosses to discuss a new deal once the season is over.
It was the towering striker who helped put the Blues in Saturday's final with the first-leg winner at Stamford Bridge against Barcelona in the last four.
If the former African Player of the Year has played his last game for the Blues, the possibility of Drogba available as a free agent is likely to arouse interest across Europe, but he has denied reports linking him to Barcelona.
Having been sent off four years ago, Drogba made good on his pre-match promise to make amends for his Moscow misery by ending Chelsea's long wait to be crowned kings of Europe.
With Drogba unable to take a penalty in that final's shoot-out, the Ivory Coast striker had to watch from the sidelines as John Terry and Nicolas Anelka's spot-kick misses gifted the trophy to United.
"In Moscow it was very difficult," said Drogba.
"It was very painful for the players, for the club, for the fans, and today we managed to change it and again it was an amazing game, a crazy game."
-AAP