Fernando Torres lifts the Euro 2008 trophy
Four years ago, Spanish striker Fernando Torres was one of the best players in the game. The world at his feet and a Euro 2008 winners' medal around his neck, the forward had as bright a future as just about anyone in football.
A year ago it looked like his glory days were well and truly over, however.
After months of underperforming which stretched back to and even before the 2010 World Cup, Liverpool decided to sell their star player to Chelsea for £50 million. It was a disaster, and the back pages (not to mention our pages) were filled with discussions on whether he was the worst signing ever made, or just one of the top three.
Today, though, his resurgent final few weeks of the season saw him pick up a Champions League winners' medal and a Euro 2012 winners' medal — not to mention the Golden Boot for the Euros.
Ironically enough he only collected the Golden Boot on account of having spent so few minutes on the pitch (a goals per minute calculation is made in the event of a tie) so the resurrection isn't yet complete. But it's still pretty remarkable.
So how did Torres turn things round? We decided to plot his ride from hero to zero to hero again - complete with a graphic showing how he's been doing relative to two famous stars of the past.
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July 2007 — Fernando Torres signs for Liverpool for around £20m, the highest in Reds' history at the time. He scored his first hat-trick within two months, and ended up with 23 goals in an amazing debut season.
June 2008 — Scores the only goal in the final of Euro 2008 against Germany. "This is my first title and I hope it's the first of many," he said. "I want to win more titles and be the most important player in Europe and the world."
May 2009 — After turning in a star performance in the Champions League as Liverpool beat Real Madrid, Torres signs a new contract at Liverpool to end speculation that he would move to a bigger club. "Fernando is one of the best strikers in the game today and, at his age, can only get better," said Rafa Benitez at the time. How wrong he was.
September 2009 - Named Premier League player of the month after scoring five goals, and later becomes fastest Liverpool player to score 50 goals. Sidelined by an abdominal problem a few weeks later.
January 2010 - Picks up knee injury which dogs the rest of his season, eventually ruling him out of the run-in and leaving him well short of fitness heading to the World Cup.
June 2010 — After a poor World Cup in which he is overshadowed by David Villa, dropped by Spain for both semi-final and final of the World Cup, but gets onto the pitch for the final few minutes to earn a winners' medal.
September 2010 — Labelled "diabolical" by Jamie Redknapp after a, well, diabolical start to the season. Also accused of being a "cheat" by Alex Ferguson.
October 2010 - Dropped entirely from Spain's squad for Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Scotland.
February 2011 — Signs for Chelsea for £50m, describing the move as "a big step up". Made his debut in a loss against his former club Liverpool and immediately under pressure.
April 2011 — Torres openly blamed by Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti for misfiring in a Champions League clash against Manchester United.
September 2011 — Gives an interview to a Spanish website criticising his own team-mates, calling the older members of the squad "very slow". In the immediate aftermath misses an open goal from seven yards against Manchester United, a miss instantly hailed as the worst of all time. Then,, after admitting that life has been "very difficult" since his move to Chelsea, begins a six-month goal drought in the Premier League, the worst run of his career.
March 2012 — Torres scores twice in the FA Cup quarter-finals to regain some much needed confidence. Sadly the opposition was only Leicester.
May 2012 — After scoring a final-minute goal against Barcelona in the semi-final, helps Chelsea lift the Champions League trophy in the final. He wins the corner which brought up Didier Drogba's late equaliser in normal time, though is not involved in the shoot-out. Later admits that it was a bitter-sweet match to be involved in: "I wanted to take a penalty but they didn't let me. This season I felt things I had never felt. I felt they have treated me in a way I was not expecting, not the manner for which the club brought me here."
July 2012 — Becomes the first player ever to score in two separate European Championship finals as he scores one and makes another in the 4-0 thrashing of Italy, collecting the Golden Boot in the process.