There are many enduring images of Bastian Schweinsteiger. There is the one of the precocious youngster with the bleach blonde hair making his Germany debut in 2004. There is the one of a Bayern Munich hero hiding his face in his shirt after missing a penalty in the Champions League final against Chelsea in 2012.
And then there is that one. The one of him with blood streaming down his face in the Maracana in 2014, as he hauled Germany towards their fourth World Cup title. More than any other, that image will be the one which defines Schweinsteiger's legacy.
The German veteran announced his retirement this week, ending a career which saw him become one of Bayern's most decorated players before spells at Manchester United and Chicago Fire.
Yet it was that immediately iconic display of grit in Rio de Janeiro which made him, in the words of Germany coach Joachim Low, 'one of the greatest players we have ever produced'.
On that balmy Brazilian evening, Schweinsteiger battled through visible pain, a cut to his upper cheek and all manner of cramps to lead Low and Germany to the World Cup. It was a performance that was about more than just silverware. It was about defiance, redemption and legacy.
Without his semi-conscious heroics, Schweinsteiger's generation would have gone down in history as nearly men. Instead, they are now bowing out, one by one, as legends.
Philipp Lahm is already gone. Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer are nearing the twilight of their careers. Lukas Podolski, who lacked the quality of the others but made up for it in spades with his personality, is seeing out his time in Japan as Schweinsteiger did in the USA.
Led by Low and nurtured by the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann, Louis van Gaal and Jupp Heynckes, this was the generation which transformed the reputations of both Bayern and Germany from counter-attacking brutes into swashbuckling charmers. Schweinsteiger, with his unique mixture of courage and class, was the most important bridge between the old and the new.
The Bayern youngster emerged in the shadow of a sweeping set of reforms which intended to revolutionise and rejuvenate German football.
Having joined Bayern's senior squad in 2002, he was raised on the tough love of players like Oliver Kahn, who allegedly once hid Schweinsteiger's towel while the young midfielder was in the shower.
Though he made his international debut in 2004, it would be a while before Schweinsteiger, who began his career out wide, would mature into the midfield general he would later become.
At the World Cup in 2006, he exploded into the wider consciousness as one half of the media-darling duo 'Schweini and Poldi'. With their spiky hair and goofy grins, he and Podolski encompassed the new drive for youth and modernity in German football.
Yet whereas Podolski would retain his role as court jester forever, Schweinsteiger ultimately ditched the blonde spikes in favour of more sober hairstyles. Under Low's guidance and alongside captain Lahm, he became a leading figure in the ever more cerebral style of football practised by Germany and Bayern.
With the added arrival of players like Mesut Ozil and Muller, Germany became the team which oozed modernity at the 2010 World Cup, and under the influence of Van Gaal, Bayern deliberately redefined their style of play, laying the groundwork for the arrival of Pep Guardiola a few years later.
At the centre of it all was Schweinsteiger, a quintessentially German player who kept everyone's feet grounded amid the change.
As Bayern morphed into a modern global super club, born and bred Bavarians like Muller and Schweinsteiger kept the localists and traditionalists - of which there are many in Bavaria - on board.
Schweinsteiger had a model girlfriend and later married a tennis player, but he also starred in crisp adverts and maintained the look of a well-mannered local boy. Both on and off the pitch, he had something for everyone, with a foot in each generation.
A more cultured midfielder than Stefan Effenberg or Jens Jeremies, he would never achieve the elegance of a Toni Kroos or an Andres Iniesta. For that reason, perhaps, he proved a little too German for Guardiola, and was shipped off to United in 2015.
The Munich faithful were outraged, but by that time, closet United fan Schweinsteiger had already cemented his legacy and was happy to fulfil a boyhood dream.
If there was one accusation always laid at his door and that of his generation, it was that they had traded flair and class for the infamous German winning mentality.
As the years went by and the major trophies eluded them, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Co stood accused of lacking the mental toughness of the Kahns and Effenbergs.
Germany reached the last four of every competition between 2006 and 2012 without winning a single title. Bayern, meanwhile, lost Champions League finals in 2010 and 2012 before finally winning it in 2013.
The defeat by Chelsea on home soil in 2012 was the lowest point for Schweinsteiger, who could barely hold back the tears after Petr Cech pushed his low penalty onto the post in the shootout.
Redemption came a year later at Wembley: though the 2013 final will always be associated with Arjen Robben, it could just as easily have been Schweinsteiger's triumph, as he came close to scoring the winner with a long range effort just minutes before Robben prodded in the goal of his career.
Instead, it was the World Cup final in 2014 which sealed Schweinsteiger's status as a German legend. His breathtaking show of guts silenced the critical voices forever and confirmed his role as a generation-bridger.
In that gruesome slog, Schweinsteiger vindicated Low and his entire generation by showing that you could play pretty and still win ugly.
Even the cut to his face that night was somewhere in between the ages. A neat little nick under his right eye, it was a wound which Terry Butcher's generation would no doubt sneer at. Yet there is no other modern footballer who has literally led their country to the World Cup with blood, sweat and tears.
For club and country, Schweinsteiger defined a golden generation, and it is little surprise that both Low and Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have immediately suggested that he might work with them in the future.
Yet whatever he does after his playing career, the enduring image of Bastian Schweinsteiger will always be that one. The one of him bleeding in Rio de Janeiro, as he finally dragged modern German football to the ultimate glory.