All was quiet around Carrow Road when Virgil van Dijk began to reflect on the day that had been 43 long — and often painful — weeks in the making.
How he had missed all this: the adulation from the travelling fans, who sang his name repeatedly as he marshalled those around him and started attacks with long, raking passes.
He kept things tight with impeccable timing and never held back if he felt standards had dipped around him.
Other than one error of judgment in the first half, when he played Teemu Pukki onside, and a split-second when the ball got stuck between his feet as he attempted to make a pass, it felt as if Van Dijk had never been away.