was a sense of inevitability when Virgil van Dijk volleyed home a last-minute equaliser on Monday night. The Netherlands, a team slowly emerging from their own existential crisis, had already beaten Germany 3-0 earlier in the autumn and they were on hand once again on a chilly night in Gelsenkirchen to make sure their bitter rival’s annus horribilis came to an appropriately humble ending.

It could have been quite different. Five minutes earlier Germany were gliding towards victory. A victory that would not have saved them from Nations League relegation, but one that would have been a flicker of light at the end of the dark, damp tunnel of 2018 – particularly thanks to the identity of the goalscorers Timo Werner and Leroy Sané, two torch bearers of the Die Mannschaft rebrand.

But as the clocked ticked down and the crowd began shuffling in their cold, plastic blue seats, Van Dijk had other ideas. As the Liverpool defender’s shot flew past Manuel Neuer, arms were flung and heads dropped, but had they really expected anything else? The crowd hadn’t. Deflated and disillusioned, they had been flat throughout. The supporters, the players and Jogi Löw will be glad to see the back of 2018. It has been a mess, on and off the pitch.