The headlines were written and Chelsea were marching on into the semi-final of the Capital One Cup on the back of yet another landmark goal from Frank Lampard.
Then Fabio Borini ripped up the script with his 89th-minute equalizer to send the game into extra time, where Ki Sung-Yueng scored another for Sunderland at the death to make it 2-1 and cause a major upset by dumping Chelsea out in the process.
For all their dominance during regulation time, even Jose Mourinho appeared at a loss when it came to explaining how his team finished up on the losing side.
Yet the significance of defeat wasn't lost on the Portuguese, who knows his team simply cannot continue to dominate matches without making their superiority count.
It's a problem that has haunted the Blues for much of 2013-14 and so it proved true once more at the Stadium of Light.