DIDIER DROGBA bowed out in style, scoring the decisive spot-kick as Chelsea won a dramatic Champions League final in his last appearance for the club.
The Ivorian had already rescued the Blues with a late goal in normal time after Thomas Muller had given Bayern Munich a deserved lead.
And, though the German side then took the lead again in the penalty shoot-out when Juan Mata missed, further failures from 12 yards by Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger for Bayern gave Drogba match point.
The 34-year-old duly took it, winning a first Champions League title for the Stamford Bridge club and rounding off an amazing month for him personally.
For, not only did Drogba step up in Munich, he also did it again at Wembley where he scored his eighth goal at the newly-built stadium to help Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup.
Ramires gave Roberto di Matteo's men a great start on 11 minutes and Drogba doubled the lead just after half time, squeezing his shot into the corner of the net to become the first player to score in four separate finals.
It was a good job he had done as Kenny Dalglish's Reds - aiming for their own Double after their Carling Cup win in February - reduced their arrears midway through the second half.
The £35m man Andy Carroll was the scorer with a thumping shot, and the ex-Newcastle striker thought he had scrambled an equaliser with a late header from Luis Suarez's cross, only for Petr Cech to react brilliantly and divert it onto the bar.
Meanwhile, in other spectacular news, the Premier League winged its way to the blue half of Manchester after surely the most dramatic end to an English football season ever (final table).
Only 1989-90, when Arsenal beat Liverpool to win the league against the Merseyside rivals, can come anywhere near to matching what happened on 13 May.
Manchester City, in their customary style, looked like they had blown the chance of a first league title in 44 years after falling 2-1 behind to relegation-haunted Queens Park Rangers.
But, just as Manchester United completed their comfortable 1-0 away at Sunderland, Edin Dzeko netted at the Etihad Stadium to make it 2-2.
Then, incredibly, in the 95th minute, it was 3-2 as Sergio Aguero somehow kept his cool to blast Man City back to the top of the league on goal difference.
Despair at Eastlands turned into joy just as joy turned into utter despair at Old Trafford.
Man United had lost titles to the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in the past but this one hurt the Red Devils. It really hurt.
Defeats to Man City and Wigan Athletic, as well as a barely believable giveaway in the 4-4 draw against Everton in the run-in, meant they had blown an eight-point lead which they had held with just a few weeks of the season left.
Nothing could prepare you for the drama of the last day, however, with Man City winning in almost perfect style - by using the fabled Fergie time.
The title win coming down to goal difference also meant that the 6-1 victory at Old Trafford in October had been ultimately decisive in giving Man City their first title since 1968.
Man United, meanwhile, were left without a trophy from the five competitions which they entered in 2011/12 - and, doubtless, the highest ever points haul for a second-placed team will mean nothing to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Third place, and what was effectively the final Champions League spot, went to Arsenal who recovered well from that early 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford and a wretched autumn generally.
The Gunners' North London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth - but, despite their placing, Harry Redknapp's men must content themselves with another season in the Europa League after Chelsea's Champions League win in Munich.
Spurs are joined in the Europa League by Newcastle United who enjoyed a brilliant season to finish fifth, ahead of Chelsea in sixth.
Liverpool also qualify for Europe, courtesy of their Carling Cup final win on penalties against Championship club Cardiff City, even though they finished 8th and behind city rivals Everton for only the second time in 25 years.
For the first time in 11 Premier League seasons, all three promoted sides - Swansea City, Norwich City and QPR - stayed up (though, for Swansea and Norwich, their success has come at the cost of losing their manager).
Ironically, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers - two of the last trio to achieve the feat - were relegated this time, along with rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.
They will be replaced by familiar faces from the Championship (final table) in Reading, Southampton and West Ham United.
The Royals won their second Championship in six years to regain the top-flight place which they had surrendered in 2008-09.
Meanwhile, the Saints return after taking the long route back via League One, before two successive promotions under Nigel Adkins repeats Norwich's recent achievement.
Finally, West Ham ensured their Championship sojourn was no more than one season by winning the playoff final against another team hoping for a quick return - Blackpool.
Ricardo Vaz Te struck the winner just three minutes from time to make it 2-1 after Tom Ince - son of unpopular former Hammer, Paul - had equalised Carlton Cole's first half opener.
A happy end, then, for Sam Allardyce and West Ham - but, having done it the hard way in his usual pragmatic style, the jury remains out on Big Sam at Boleyn Ground.
Heading out of the Championship the other way are Doncaster Rovers, for whom this always seemed a season too far; Coventry City, who will play in the third-flight for the first time since 1963-64; and Portsmouth.
Pompey were only relegated because of another 10-point deduction for going into administration and the south coast club remain in deep, financial difficulty. Indeed, they would do well to last the summer, as it stands.
And, even if they make to August, Portsmouth will find League One an unforgiving division.
Nevertheless, some of the bigger clubs did find a way out of it this season (final table) with Charlton Athletic storming their way to the title and a century haul of points.
That left just one automatic place for the two chasing Sheffield clubs, United and Wednesday, who battled all season long.
In the end, it was Wednesday who won the Steel City chase - though only by three points - and the ultimately decisive factor, just like in Manchester, were the derby matches. The Owls took four points from them, the Blades only one.
Danny Wilson's men did at least qualify for the playoff final but there they met another Yorkshire club, Huddersfield Town, who were well experienced as end-of-season campaigners.
This was the third time in a row that the Terriers had ended up in the playoffs and, after successive failures under Lee Clark, Huddersfield finally made it count with Simon Grayson in charge.
Only just, mind. An 8-7 shoot-out win from after penalties from all 22 men meant that all the excitement from this tie had been condensed into its final few moments, the 0-0 draw having been overly-cautious from both sides.
But, while effectively it was the bigger clubs in the division who battled for promotion, it was no surprise to see some of the lesser lights towards the wrong end of the table.
In the end, all four relegated clubs - Rochdale, in bottom place, Exeter City, Chesterfield and Wycombe Wanderers - fell well short of the 50 points usually required to survive.
Walsall and Leyton Orient only just made it to the half-century on the final day but the relegated quartet had already left them no concerns by then.
That does mean the Saddlers and the Os will face Swindon Town next season after the Wiltshire club made light work of League Two (final table).
The Robins quickly overcame a poor start to life under manager Paulo di Canio to win the title from Shrewsbury Town who were also promoted.
Crawley Town crept into the final automatic spot with a win against Accrington Stanley on the final day securing consecutive promotions.
And the final place went to Crewe Alexandra who, thanks to a slow start, finished just seventh in the regular season but timed their unbeaten run perfectly.
The Railwaymen's 19-game streak culminated in a 2-0 win over Cheltenham Town at Wembley in the playoff final, with the scorer of their opener - teenager Nick Powell - apparently now the subject to a bid from Man United.
But, while the season ended brilliantly for Crewe, the second half of 2011/12 was a total disaster for Macclesfield Town.
The Silkmen are still awaiting their first win of the calendar year after drawing seven and losing 16 of their last 23 matches on their way to propping up the whole of the Football League.
The Cheshire club will be joined in the Blue Square Premier by Hereford United after the Bulls, with two wins and two draws from the final four games, left it too late to get out of trouble.
Fleetwood Town and York City are their replacements in the Football League after their fine respective seasons in the BSP (final table).
Fleetwood, on the west coast of Lancashire, won the division with a huge haul of 103 points - and, given their big spending and lofty ambitions, the Fishermen will be aiming to follow Crawley's example in not just settling for League status.
Meanwhile, York make a welcome return to the 92 after an eight-year absence, capping their season with - not one - but two Wembley cup final wins.
The Minstermen finished the campaign in style with a 2-1 comeback win in the playoff final over old foes Luton Town. Matty Blair scored the winner just after half time, Ashley Chambers had deservedly restored parity.
Blair was on the scoresheet a week earlier when York beat Welsh club Newport County 2-0 in the FA Trophy final. The wonderfully-named Lanre Oyebanjo got the other goal in what was a pretty straightforward win.
And finally, there was more north of the Humber success in the FA Vase as Dunston UTS in Gateshead beat fellow Northern League outfit West Auckland 2-0. Andrew Bulford scored twice for the Fed in front of a lively crowd of 5,126 at Wembley.
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