Olivier Giroud and Ilkay Gundogan complete their redemption journey

At the trophy lift after Chelsea’s victory in the last Champions League final, Olivier Giroud took up a good position for souvenir pictures. He was just behind the Cup, directly in the eyeline of assembled photographers. You don’t reach your mid-30s, and win a World Cup, without learning a few lessons about how to preserve your legacy.

But that night in Porto had been an unfulfilling one for Giroud, the France striker who after a decade spent at elite clubs still sometimes finds the flaws in his game - he is not the quickest sprinter - highlighted almost as much as the strengths.

He hears himself unfairly deemed an old-fashioned centre-forward for being strong in the air, good at holding the ball up and an astute poacher, while his catalogue of spectacular strikes is mentioned only as a footnote.

By the end of his career with Chelsea, he had certainly fallen out of fashion. He spent all of that Champions League final on the bench, hardly expecting to play, with his side defending a 1-0 lead from late in the first half against Manchester City. The longer he was under Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel’s charge, the more Giroud knew his role would be confined to occasional substitute.

On Sunday, Giroud did not need to sneak guiltily into any of the celebration pictures around AC Milan’s first Serie A title for 11 years. He was entitled to feel centre-stage for the club he joined last summer, to enjoy the hero status that attached to him from early on in what might have been a nervous evening. Had Milan faltered on the last match-day of their campaign, Internazionale would have overtaken them at the top of the table, with the gap between first and second just two points.

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan celebrates scoring the