It's all over. Neymar was inconsolable in the dugout at full-time. As Bayern Munich wallowed in their sixth Champions League triumph after a cagey 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, tears flooded his eyes unchecked.

The world's most expensive footballer's last meaningful intervention on Sunday was a reckless foul on Polish star Robert Lewandowski. A yellow card ensued. A heart was broken. A dream collapsed.

He would have contributed more in his club's first European final in history if some of the glorious scoring opportunities in the opening period of the game were seized. Instead, a formidable Manuel Neuer stood in the way, stopping each and every shot with scintillating agility and speed of thought.

It's been three years since Neymar forced a shocking world-record 222 million euro move from Barcelona, where he won his only Champions League title in 2015. Since arriving in France, he has won nine trophies and scored 74 goals in 85 appearances across all competitions.

Yet it's far from enough. For the 28-year-old superstar, the only way to justify his controversial decision to leave the best league in the world and the best player in the world is to guide PSG to clinch European football's biggest prize.

He has done his utmost to step out of Lionel Messi's shadow. But untimely injuries repeatedly derailed his efforts. Foot and ankle problems twice prevented him from featuring in crucial European nights as PSG habitually tumbled out of the Champions League in the absence of their most influential leading man.

This year represented Neymar and PSG's best chance to make the breakthrough. The Ligue 1 giants overwhelmed Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta and RB Leipzig in the knockout stages and set up a final appointment with German powerhouse Bayern.

With French wonder-kid Kylian Mbappe and Argentine veteran Angel Di Maria also in brilliant form, Neymar's confidence is sky-high.

"These three years came with a lot of knowledge. I've lived times of joy and some complicated ones, especially when I was unable to play due to injuries," Neymar observed ahead of the showpiece final.

"I believe that today I live my best moment in Paris. We want to mark this season with the Champions. We will fight for this, because we were never so close," he added.

Old boy returns to haunt former master

Unfortunately, Bayern delivered a harsh reality check.

The irony is that Kingsley Coman, who started his career at PSG, sealed the triumph with a 59th-minute header at the far post from Joshua Kimmich's cross to leave Neymar hugely despondent.

Coman was born in Paris and left the city aged 18 in 2014, sensing he wouldn't get regular football if he stayed at PSG. In retrospective, his decision to seek pastures new in a foreign country proved extremely wise as his goal helped Bayern secure a second treble in the club's history and became the first team to lift the Champions League with a 100 percent record.

"It is an extraordinary feeling. I'm so happy but I'm also a bit sad for Paris," Coman said. 

It was not PSG's night. Both Neymar and Mbappe failed to beat Neuer from close range. The pair's finishing was not at its best when it mattered most. PSG's frustration grew at the latter stage of the encounter when Mbappe looked to be tripped by Kimmich in the box, but their appeals for penalty were ignored.

"We gave all our heart on the field. You can expect that from your team, but you can't control the result," said PSG coach Thomas Tuchel. 

"Neuer was again incredible, he has been in good form for weeks and week and weeks. He's back to his best – unfortunately for us," he added.

Amazing Flick storms into hall of fame

Huge credit must go to Tuchel's counterpart Hansi Flick, who took over a struggling Bayern after a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt led to the sacking of Niko Kovac in November. In the short span of just a few months, he has steered the club to an eighth Bundesliga title, lifted the German Cup and now the Champions League.

During the delicately-balanced final, Flick again showed his bravery to make the big calls in the biggest stages, opting to start with Coman instead of Croatian Ivan Perisic on the left flank and it was a marvelous decision.

"When I saw the headlines in November, all I read was that nobody is afraid of Bayern anymore. The development since then has been crazy," said an emotional Flick, who was merrily thrown into the air by his players during the trophy-lifting ceremony. 

Despite coaching in the topflight for the first time this season, Flick has followed in the footsteps of legendary Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes who landed the only other treble in the club's history in 2013.

"The joy was huge – that was what we deserved and what we wished for. It was really hard work," beamed Neuer, one of the few survivors from the 2013 team.

Strange end to a coronavirus-disrupted season

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there were no fans to witness the biggest match in club football at the 65,000-seat Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. "It's a pity that the fans couldn't be here with us today. Perhaps they can be back again in the future. A game like this without supporters is not the football that we know," admitted Flick.

The health crisis has forced UEFA to make a dramatic change to the format of the Champions League. Gathering eight teams in Lisbon in a mini-tournament appeared to be only way to make sure the hugely popular spectacle was completed in time.

Though UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said earlier this week that the format was likely to be a one-off, he seemed to changed his mind on Sunday.

"I have to say that this system of one match seems more interesting to me than the other system with two legged matches," said Ceferin. "It's one of the interesting things that was brought by this pandemic. We had to do a system like that. We had to play this way, but at the end, we see it's a very interesting system."

"Now, it's quite complicated to place a final eight in the calendar. But we saw that people want exciting matches, that in one match, every team can beat every team in Champions League or the Europa League.

"So it's something to consider for the future ... I think in September or October, we have to start to seriously speak," he added.

Next year, the Champions League final will be held in Istanbul, where Liverpool's extraordinary comeback win in 2005 remains one of the greatest-ever nights in European football. 

A new chapter begins.