It was a 50th England cap to forget for Raheem Sterling on Thursday night in Portugal.
The Manchester City star captained his country for the first time in the UEFA Nations League semi-final against the Netherlands, but was powerless to stop the Three Lions capitulating.
A 3-1 defeat at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimarães after extra time will sting for Sterling, but he at least managed to win one of his own personal battles.
With the game locked at 1-1 and England looking to regain control of the game, the 24-year-old flew into a challenge with Ballon d’Or contender Virgil Van Dijk.
After showing incredible strength and balance, Sterling starts to dribble away from the colossus with the intention of causing serious damage.
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However, as with his previous 64 Liverpool appearances, Van Dijk was not about to be dribbled past and recovered superbly by sending the 5ft 7ins star absolutely flying.
England had been hoping to face Portugal in the finale and looked on course for a shot at their first trophy in 53 years as Southgate’s side reacted well to Matthijs De Ligt cancelling out Marcus Rashford’s first-half penalty.
Jesse Lingard thought he had filled the role of super-sub as he coolly turned home in the 83rd minute but joy quickly turned to despair as the Video Assistant Referee ruled out the strike for a narrow offside.
Matters would get even worse in extra-time as a shocking mistake by Stones led Kyle Walker to turn into his own net, with England then conceding a third as a Ross Barkley error allowed Quincy Promes to seal Holland a 3-1 win.
Instead, it is Champions League-winner Van Dijk who will square off against the indomitable Cristiano Ronaldo. But just look at what lies in wait for the 34-year-old from Madeira…
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