If Goran Pandev could have surveyed the social network sites with 10 minutes left in Inter’s clash with Bayern Munich he would not have been pleased. The kindest description he might have found of his evening’s work was “useless”. I was among those who were particularly persistent in pleading for his substitution.

Well, if there is a Macedonian recipe for humble pie, I am prepared to devour a whole one.

His cool finish kept the Nerazzurri on course for an improbable Champions League defence and in the process made fools of those who had criticised his efforts. My own Twitter timeline was filled with people making that very point. If it was possible for tweets to blush, mine would have been positively scarlet.

It all set me thinking about the crazy and beautiful nature of the game of football. Even a player in the poorest form can produce a match-winning moment of sublime beauty. Sometimes the sport simply defies all logic.

Pandev’s match was the ultimate in pragmatism. He seemed to do nothing other than give away possession and get brushed off the ball. Yet he delivered one goal and one assist. Stick that in your statistical database.

It also underlined just how vital - and perhaps unappreciated - the goalscoring artform remains. How Milan could have used a finish like Goran’s in their two matches with Tottenham Hotspur. Or, as the inimitable Swiss Ramble mused, what would have happened to Arsenal if they had put Pandev clear on goal against Barcelona rather than Nicklas Bendtner?

The boom in serious analysis of the game is to be welcomed but some single events can throw it all out of the window. Hundreds of completed passes and overwhelming domination of possession mean nothing if that round object does not end up in the net thing. It is, ultimately, the only statistic that matters.

So Goran Pandev gave us a double V-sign last night. The first was to myself and countless other viewers who were questioning why Leonardo put him on the pitch and chose to keep him there. The second was to those who preach only one way to play football and will not countenance any credit for other approaches.

Yet that is why the Champions League remains a thrilling prospect. Barcelona are fully deserving of their favourites’ status but they showed enough profligacy in front of goal against Arsenal to give other sides hope. The Gunners were within a single strike of progress - despite not mustering a shot on target in their second leg.

So God bless Pandev. He could not have made me feel more foolish if he had helped me squeeze into a jester’s outfit and taken me a walk up the high street. Heaven knows it was not the first time I have been gloriously wrong about football. Hopefully it will not be the last time either.