And high above the pitch, the great clock ticked to 90+3. Wembley fell quiet for a heartbeat. Then the yellow wall started to sing—not in anger, but in pride. You'll Never Walk Alone drifted through the London rain.

Bayern, for all their star power, looked heavy. Arjen Robben had that familiar tightness in his jaw—the ghost of missed finals past. Franck Ribéry was a tangle of frustration.

Robben slid on his knees, arms spread wide, tears mixing with rain and turf. Schweinsteiger, the 2012 penalty misser, fell on top of him. Müller screamed into the sky. For one perfect, frozen moment, every ghost of the past dissolved.

On 60 minutes, the moment came from an unlikely source. A corner, half-cleared. The ball bobbled to —the big Croatian who had unseated Mario Gomez not through flair, but sheer relentless work. As Dante’s header looped across goal, Mandžukić threw his body at it. The ball squirmed past Roman Weidenfeller.

2-1.