Luis Suarez has always dealt in extremes. A footballer whose season began in disgrace, as he served a ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini, ended in delight, as he scored the pivotal goal in the Uefa Champions League final.
His former club Liverpool's campaign concluded with a 6-1 defeat; his current employers Barcelona's year has yielded a remarkable treble.
In a side of such extravagant talent, that is not just because of Suarez, but he is a catalytic force – he has added another element to a fantastic formula.
Famously, no club has ever retained the Champions League in its current incarnation.
Yet that does not imply an equality among the elite; Barcelona have cemented their status as the team of the 21st century.
Arguably they are the best of the Champions League era.
Read more: Jonathan Wilson’s match report from Berlin as Barca clinch deserved European crown
A fourth success in 10 seasons made them the competition’s most successful side since Liverpool triumphed four times in eight European Cup campaigns between 1977 and 1984.
Two scorers in Berlin, Ivan Rakitic and Suarez, were among Barcelona’s buys last summer. Manager Luis Enrique was another newcomer, but there is a strand that runs through the last decade, when they have had continuity and class.
Andres Iniesta played in the 2006, 2009 and 2011 showpieces. He has become the first four-time Champions League winner since Paolo Maldini.
Factor in the reality that he scored the goal that decided the 2010 World Cup and Iniesta’s is a stellar CV.
He is the unassuming great, exhibiting few of the traits of a superstar and an irregular scorer but a player with a capacity to exert an impact on the big stages.
Barcelona’s fourth-minute opener was a case in point.
If the focus on what is now a 122-goal strike trio was unrelenting before kick-off, Barcelona were swift to emphasise they are not a three-man team.
Indeed, while Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar have made the forward line the side’s pre-eminent section, Barcelona used to exemplify the tiki-taka theory that everyone is a midfielder.
Despite Messi’s magnificence, it was the axis of Iniesta and Xavi that defined an ethos as much as an all-conquering outfit. The original ideologue began his final Barca game on the bench before replacing his soulmate.
Iniesta, who used to be deployed in a more advanced role to accommodate another midfielder, is now in the central trio.
Yet while Messi and Neymar had integral parts in the build-up, Rakitic’s goal came from bonafide midfielders, both emerging unchecked in the Juventus box.
Iniesta was the selfless supplier, squaring where others would have shot. Rakitic, who has taken Xavi’s place in the team, was the cool executioner.
Not everyone is a midfielder now, but the midfielders can finish like forwards.
Their threat was concealed by the striking spearheads; their shared assurance in possession evident as, Suarez apart, each outfield player was involved in the move.
It was no coincidence that an unmarked Jordi Alba played a role in the goal. The Spaniard and Daniel Alves could spend much of the match operating as ersatz wingers.
Lacking immediate opponents, because of Juventus’s midfield diamond, they accepted the invitation to advance into space.
They brimmed with energy. Barcelona are rightly admired for the precision of their passing, but much of their incision is a consequence of their pace.
At times a Juventus side featuring six, 30-somethings were stretched and it was to their credit that they clawed their way back into the game.
Gianluigi Buffon, the 37-year-old goalkeeper whose personal palmares is now sadly unlikely to include the Champions League, made a string of saves. A Madridista, Alvaro Morata, levelled.
There were certain similarities in Juventus’s equaliser and Barcelona’s winner, each coming when a goalkeeper parried a shot and a striker got to the rebound.
Before Neymar added an injury-time third, typically, the indefatigable, irrepressible Suarez had the crucial say.
The £75 million (Dh420.6m) bundle of mischief and menace has illustrated he belongs among the best. Liverpool’s loss is Barcelona’s gain.
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