Surely the most uncharacteristic thing Ronaldinho ever did in his life was to get sent off for fouling Danny Mills. On a balmy evening in Japan four years ago he had already made one goal and scored another before getting himself dismissed to ensure that England had no excuse for their elimination. Mills, that most uncompromising of defenders, may now be thinking of attaching a commemorative plaque to the shin that felt the scrape of the Brazilian's studs.
When Chelsea met Barcelona in the first round of their latest encounter it was Leo Messi who earned the rave reviews. On Tuesday night it was Ronaldinho's turn to take centre stage, and once again he proved himself to be an English side's nemesis.
He had given a warning earlier in the evening when he warmed up alone, limbering up by passing a ball by hand behind his back and through his legs. Having produced a selflessly discreet performance in the first-leg victory, now the 25-year-old wanted the world to acknowledge the qualities that brought him Fifa's world player of the year award and France Football's Ballon d'Or.
He started the match in his usual style, taunting the right side of the opposing defence with his basic repertoire of darts and feints. When he and Messi started to link up, working combinations with a marvellous blend of smooth delivery and unexpected angles, Chelsea's defenders knew they were in for a difficult night.
Ronaldinho wears the No10, that magic number graced by so many of the very greatest players, all answering to a certain description yet each providing a variation on the art of playmaking. No one would say the style of Barcelona's current genius resembles those of Puskas, Pele, Maradona or Zidane; only the end product is the same.
So far as one can tell, there has never been a player like Ronaldinho. His dominant characteristic is the suddenness of his movement and the unpredictability of his decision-making. No one has ever stopped and started while in possession of the ball with such an instant control of his own limbs. Opponents are bewitched and bewildered, trying to predict which way he will spring. But even when they guess right, he can change his option in an instant. And what he shares with Pele and Maradona is the ability to retain possession of the ball even as it rebounds off an opponent while he is hurdling or jinking round a tackle.
His goal in the 78th minute was a thing of great beauty, a moment of grace, power and decisiveness, fully the equal of the sudden strike with which he paralysed Petr Cech in London a year ago, and a fitting reward on a night when he fully justified the honours that have fallen upon him. The way he beat Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry formed a miniature summary of his art, although the brusqueness with which he left Terry on the seat of his pants suggested that his game also possesses a hitherto well-concealed physical dimension.
When Cech saw that Ronaldinho had cleared the defenders and was pulling back his right foot to shoot, the goalkeeper must have experienced a nightmarish flashback to Stamford Bridge on March 8 2005, and the game in which Ronaldinho scored one of the most extraordinary goals of his - or, indeed, anybody's - career. On that occasion he was standing still on the edge of a crowded penalty area, with the ball immobile at his feet, when he shifted his weight first one way and then the other before abruptly prodding a shot that turned Cech into a horrified spectator. This time he was hitting the ball on the move, but his eyes and his body shape gave the goalkeeper no evidence on which to base a pre-emptive lunge.
Perhaps those warming-up exercises give a clue to the nature of his gift. What he has is a remarkable suppleness, as if not just his joints but the limbs themselves were made of rubber. As he wriggles his way through a group of defenders, like a trout through driftwood in a running stream, he seems to possess the ability to bend his body into two directions at once.
Chelsea cannot be blamed for their failure to find a definitive answer to such originality, which presents an even greater danger when surrounded by the contrasting gifts of Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Deco. Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona do not possess quite enough quality from front to back to be considered a truly great side, but at the moment their stars and their attitude to the game make them the principal adornment of European football, and Ronaldinho is their pearl beyond price.