You can still believe in magic

We know that sensitive types often complain that newspapers are only interested in bad news.

And even football fans must have been inclined to agree as the last couple of weeks have been dominated by stories about racism, homophobia, financial collapse, player disputes and various other manifestations of the ugly side of the beautiful game.

Of course, when it comes to football, we tend in this country to be Anglo-centric to a fault, which perhaps explains in part why, almost lost amid all the weeping and wailing about the state of the game, was one of the most uplifting sports stories of this or any other year.