Tonight in the fevered surroundings of the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, he starred in The Italian Job, coolly accepting the theft of a goal in the third minute by his diligent striker, Diego Milito, that caught his old ally at Stamford Bridge, John Terry, swivelling on the wrong spot to leave Petr Cech helpless on the near post.
Why Terry had left his mark on the other side of the stage was more than likely down to the panic induced by excellent lead-up work by Wesley Sneijder, although it was difficult to excuse the Chelsea captain's ultimate clumsiness.