This last Saturday night I found myself short of breath, my heart pounding like a Smiths hammer on an anvil and my head was spinning. I could be suffering from a medical condition but in reality it was the effects of watching the 2012 Champions league final involving Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
In fact it was at the time of Didier Drogba's turn in the penalty shoot-out after both teams had drawn 1-1 after extra time. Čech had just about got a glove onto Bastien Schweinsteiger's effort which had pushed it onto the post and crucially kept it out of his net, leaving Drogba with the chance to win an unlikely European Cup (or Champions League) for the first time in Chelsea's history.
How on earth Chelsea had manoeuvred themselves into such a position after 2 hours of football, which Bayern had totally dominated, will remain one of the great mysteries in this crazy sport. But they had, through grit, determination, at times some excellent defending but most importantly a belief in themselves and each other that no team can currently claim to equal.
Bayern had met all expectations during the game, controlling possession and creating chance after chance against the underdogs of Chelsea. They had the balance between defence and attack, back and front in perfect harmony like a Grand Prix winning F1 car, but they hadn't counted on meeting such resilience for so long in the game.
Up until 82 minutes the result of Bayern Munich adding a fifth European cup to their cabinet seemed an almost certainty, despite a couple of rare and glaring misses by their chief marksman Mario Gomez. And then the rubber stamp came when Tomas Müller seized the bull by the horns and headed the ball into the net, sending a cacophonous wave of victory around the red sections of the Allianz arena leaving the Blue shirts silent and still.
The Chelsea fans must have then started turning their thoughts towards a sad and reflective journey home, awaiting their own warm beds. But not Didier Drogba and certainly not any of his team mates. Roberto Di Matteo, the interim Chelsea boss, sent on Fernando Torres to help with the task of clawing their way back into this tie and he certainly played a big part in the fairy-tale to come.
He surged up the right hand side of the pitch and forced a corner from which Mata's curler was met by the Goliath himself Drogba,who headed powerfully into the roof of Bayern's net with just two minutes remaining on the clock. The Chelsea fans were as loud as the stunned Bayern fans were quiet.
Drogba revealed after the game in a post match interview that several of his team mates had said they believed there was one more goal in this final for them, and that the trophy would be theirs. This is the belief that can turn your night from misery to glory and that is exactly what they did.
Sure, it was no easy ride through the body-punishing thirty minutes of extra time, especially when Drogba gave away a silly penalty roughly ten minutes into it. Robben missed it or technically Čech saved it, either way the game was still on for Chelsea and they had the look of settling for penalties all over them.
Their goal must have seemed like it had a force-field protecting it when Olić (a late substitute) got the ball in a very promising position in the penalty area but elected to play the ball across the face of goal to no-one in particular. He could have tried to beat the goalkeeper, but it just wasn't the right option at that moment.
So penalties it was going and there was equal belief between both sets of fans that their team would be crowned champions and bask in the glory of European rule.
Up stepped Mata, facing the giant Manuel Neuer who went about his pre-penalty routine of intimidation in front of his own fans. Mata failed and Neuer emerged triumphant.
Maybe just then the Chelsea fans must have thought that was it, certainly their German counterparts thought that the win was now finally coming but football doesn't always pan out in the way of expectations.
The next few penalties went according to plan for both sides until Olić stepped up for what was his last competitive kick of a football for Bayern Munich before being signed by VfL Wolfsburg. He dawdled around the spot for an eternity, almost as if he was waiting for Čech to vacate the area, and the resulting effort was poor and easily gathered by the Chelsea keeper.
Ashley Cole then guided his effort nicely around Neuer with the class he had shown all game, and it was then that Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville remarked that he felt “something is happening.”
How right he was as Bastien Schweinsteiger dawdled much like Olić and then exactly like him- failed to score. This leaving the possible winning kick up to that Centurion of Chelsea, Mr Drogba himself.
The whole night before this moment had been almost tiring in it's occurrence, I for one was feeling it. How the Chelsea fans weren't all being taken to the local A&E for bearing unbelievable stress and excitement I'll never know.
So when Drogba, the man who missed the chance at taking a penalty in the 2008 final loss to Manchester Utd (having been sent off), stepped up and stroked the ball into the net to win the famous trophy, it provided the perfect panacea for those travelling supporters. The Ivorian along with Terry and Lampard have personified the might of the Roman Abramovich era.
Eight years of investment and effort culminated in that last kick from Didier Drogba, the dream had been fulfilled and Mr Abramovich looked on almost in shock as his jubilant players tore around the pitch waving their shirts and leaping like gazelles towards their fans.
It was fitting in every way that it should have been Drogba who brought them that long awaited glory.
Maybe it was his swansong, his final contribution to Chelsea, and if it was he shall now find himself a resounding hero in the history of Chelsea football club. Cue a bronzed titan of a statue of the Ivorian being erected outside of wherever the new Chelsea stadium may be built. Why not? He deserves it.