Amid the mayhem and the mania of football’s extra-ordinary week of drama, it was Leicester City who apparently made up the numbers.
But they certainly played their part.
Kicking off the four magnificent nights on the edge that left the game and its public agog, they took on Manchester City at the Etihad on Monday night and delivered a performance which illustrated just how far the game has come in England.
It took a stupendous goal to defeat them. Revitalised under Brendan Rodgers, they were clever, sophisticated, confident and unafraid.
They brought the ball out without fear from the back. They played sweeper-keeper without panicking. There were England defenders, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell, at the core of all this. So effectively that City apparently want to pay £42million to sign full-back Chilwell this summer.
Leicester also move it around smartly and were both organised and disciplined while hunting for a way to counter-attack against one of the most relentlessly positive and mind-draining teams this country has known.
In short, they made it clear just what the elite teams like City and Liverpool have to overcome to win the most demanding league championship in the world.
Ten years ago, a match like it was unthinkable in the Premier League. That’s why it took something unstoppable from Kompany to win it.
And then the roller coaster was well and truly running, with Liverpool stunning Barcelona, Tottenham defying Ajax in the 96th minute and Chelsea winning a penalty shoot-out against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Now, after two days drawing breath, there could be more glorious uproar with City and Liverpool set to decide the title race on Sunday, the final day.
Not every mid-ranking side in the Premier League are as good as Leicester, of course. And further down, there have been gimme points for both City and Liverpool against teams like Huddersfield and Fulham.
But Rodgers’ side are the current form team among a group of intensely-coached, highly-motivated teams like Wolves, Watford, Everton of late and Bournemouth – who hammered Chelsea 4-0 in January - on occasion who have taken the DNA of the Premier League to a new level.
West Ham, on their day, can be an attacking handful and will be even more so if Manuel Pellegrini can make them more consistent.
Crystal Palace and Newcastle have both beaten City this season. Burnley are rarely a pushover.
It is correct now to say that the coaching methods and styles of both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp – hugely different but equally finely-tuned and almost evangelical - have driven the English game forward to a new peak.
The way that Leicester lived with City until the 70th minute showed that the best coaches and the best teams outside of the top six have responded well.
At the same time, it’s true that Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and, woefully Manchester United have offered little by way of trying to keep up with the leading pair.
City head into the final day’s trip to Brighton with the remarkable tally of 95 points. Liverpool could finish with 97 points by beating Wolves - and still miss out on the prize. But third-placed Chelsea are currently a massive 23 points behind them.
It cannot detract from the resurgent idea that English football is newly-empowered beyond these shores, however.
Who could suggest otherwise when the Champions League final will be played between Spurs and Liverpool and the Europa League will be won by either Spurs or Arsenal?
Those with any sense and any knowledge have been gracious enough to understand that the Spanish game deserved its recent domination of the European prizes.
Real Madrid won four of the last five Champions League tournaments. Barcelona won the other one. They were undoubtedly the best.
Sevilla won three of the last five Europa Leagues, with Atletico Madrid winning last season and Manchester United the year before.
Now London alone has three finalists this early summer.
Ironically, it is City, so much more powerful than Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, who are missing out on the European carnival.
It will, though, be a massive achievement if they are the first side to retain the title since Manchester United in 2009.
The huge points tallies racked up by City and Liverpool might suggest they have not been challenged enough. That’s never true in the Premier League. Leicester City proved that point last Monday.
The beauty of this competition is that nobody can be certain – not stone-banker, dead-cert certain - that Brighton or Wolves won’t do the same on Sunday.
