Just after midnight on Tuesday night, Barcelona's players silently boarded a bus waiting outside the Ciutat de Valencia, knowing it was over, another opportunity wasted. Just before midnight on Wednesday night, fireworks exploded in the sky outside the Metropolitano, Atletico Madrid fans who had followed the game from the carpark alongside the stadium hoping it was almost over. And just after midnight on Thursday, Real Madrid's players began the four-hour journey home, having ensured that it wasn't over yet, determined to drag this out to the very last day.
And so here we are.