It was approaching midnight when Harry Kane emerged to take the congratulations of the media patiently waiting for a word with Bayern Munich's new Ballon d'Or winner. He had not even played in their 6-1 cup win over Magdeburg but it still felt like his night.
He joked about his children playing with the trophy. He responded to calls for him to be knighted: "I would feel weird if everyone called me Sir." Bizarrely, he even faced questions about being given a golden schnitzel: "I saw that one more as a trophy than to eat it."
Kane insists that he was ready to play but it is clear that what he refers to himself as "a big emotional load" has had an impact on him. "It feels like the Freiburg game was six weeks ago," he said. In reality, it was Sunday. "So much has happened in the last 48 hours."
Naturally, much of the focus since has been on him becoming only the fifth Englishman to claim this award and the first in a quarter of a century. But Bayern have waited two decades longer than that to see one of their own claim this prize. They adore Kane.
Even on a night when he was warming the bench only to find that his team did not need him - memo to Cristiano Ronaldo on that one - it was a special occasion. When he started going through his routines early in the second half, the chant of 'Harry' went up.
There had already been a guard of honour on his return to the Allianz Arena. Such is Kane's character, he was not entirely comfortable: "Even when I was walking out to warm up and they are all there clapping, I don't know, I get quite embarrassed by it."
But he is having to get used to it. There are more tributes planned for Kane's playing return against Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday and the announcement of a new contract at Bayern is imminent. This move to Germany has been a triumph.
Not everyone thought so at the outset. Former Bayern president Uli Hoeness suggested that even he thought a nine-figure sum was crazy. He has since said that he would have bought him for 150 million euros. That sums up how Kane has surpassed expectations.
Speaking to Bayern legend Lothar Matthaus about how the perceptions have changed, he explains: "This was a high number, but this was the best investment that Bayern Munich was doing maybe ever. Nobody knew what you would get from this £100m."
Matthaus adds: "Nobody, I think, was thinking this three-and-a-half years ago. It was the idea, maybe the dream, maybe the wish. But to win the Ballon d'Or given his age? I repeat, it was the best investment that Bayern Munich have made in the last 20 years."
They have all been charmed by his humility: "Harry Kane is a fantastic player, not only on the field. He is a fantastic person. How he presents himself in front of the media, when he is with the fans, he is giving each fan autographs, he spends time with them."
But most of all it is the fact that he is a better player than they thought they were buying. Having limped over the line in the title race in 2023 thanks to Dortmund's slip on the final day, Bayern knew they needed a striker to replace Robert Lewandowski.
What they actually signed was so much more.
"He is coming from the number 10, sometimes walking to left back, then going in the defence, taking the ball, giving assists, opening the game. This is not a typical number 9, what we knew before, who has to be in the box. Harry Kane is a playmaker. It makes him so special."
Matthaus continues: "Bayern Munich changed the system and this system is very good for Harry because he does not have to stay and wait for the ball in the box. Harry Kane can do what he wants because he is a football player. He knows what he has to do."
As Matthaus points out, this is not so much an act of sacrifice, but a means of expression. "He is everywhere and he is doing this because he likes to do it." Indeed, Matthaus himself, a midfielder and the 1990 Ballon d'Or winner, even sees echoes of his own game in Kane.
"Franz Beckenbauer, he told me nothing that I had to do because he believed I would do in the moment what was the best for me and for the team." It is a similar situation with Kane. "He is somebody who is connected to the team. He is this leader," adds Matthaus.
"Being a leader as a striker is sometimes very difficult because you are thinking, I have to score. Harry Kane is not thinking only that he has to score. He has to organise the team, he has to give assists, he has to work for the defence. This makes him so special."
It helps that the team complements him, with willing runners and a coach who values positional rotations. A perfect marriage. "This makes it so beautiful, the story with Harry Kane." But the story is not over yet. "He gets better too, like red wine," says Matthaus.
There are things left to achieve, and not just that knighthood that he was asked about late into Wednesday evening. Bayern want to win the Champions League. With England, Kane is still chasing that major international trophy that has eluded him thus far.
But seeing the love for him in Munich was a reminder that he has become more than a product of England now. "Harry Kane is the face of the Bundesliga," says Matthaus. "He changed Bayern Munich a little bit. Harry Kane, I think he finds his peace in Munich."
He found the Ballon d'Or too. And speaking to Kane on Wednesday, it was his final words when reflecting on what he called "a whirlwind 48 hours" that took him to London and back that perhaps felt most telling of all. "It is nice to just be here and feel at home again."
