MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo scored his third goal of the European Championship and Donyell Malen added two more late on as the Dutch burst back into form with a lively display to defeat Romania 3-0 in their last-16 fixture on Tuesday.
They had been lambasted by their media and fans for a poor defensive display in their final group game, a 3-2 loss to Austria, but were more composed and in control as they reach the Euro quarter-finals for the first time since 2008.
The Dutch started slowly at the Munich Football Arena as Romania controlled the ball for the first quarter of an hour before the Netherlands slowly started to get a grip on the match.
They led after 20 minutes when player of the match Gakpo drilled a low shot home at keeper Florin Nita’s near post before Malen’s late double helped set up a quarter-final with Austria or Turkey, who play later on Tuesday, in Berlin on Saturday.
Gakpo was a menace all night and turned provider for Malen’s first goal in the 83rd minute when he kept the ball in play on the touchline and knocked it across the box for an easy tap in.
Malen notched his second in stoppage time when he collected the ball in midfield, dribbled into the penalty area and fired past Nita as the Dutch served notice that they have started to click at the tournament.
Romania created just a few chances in the match and never looked a serious threat as the Netherlands controlled possession and waited for opportunities to get forward.
The Dutch had two thirds of possession and almost five times more chances with 24 attempts in the game to underline their superiority as Virgil van Dijk struck the post with a header and Gakpo had a second effort ruled out for offside.
(Reporting by Nick Said and Michael Kahn; Editing by Ken Ferris)
