Improved Netherlands beat Romania 3-0 to reach Euro 2024 quarterfinals

The Netherlands could be peaking at just the right time.

The Dutch team reached their first Euros quarterfinals in 16 years with a 3-0 win over Romania on Tuesday, after their best performance by far at this year's tournament. Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock in the 20th minute and substitute Donyell Malen scored two late goals.

"I think the whole performance today was outstanding and that's what we need to have a chance to continue in this tournament," coach Ronald Koeman said. "This is the level. If you go down in that level, then we don't reach the final."

The Netherlands missed a plethora of earlier opportunities to add to the lead and captain Virgil van Dijk also hit the woodwork. It was nevertheless a much-improved display compared to their disappointing group stage performance, which ended in a 3-2 loss to Austria.

"Sometimes it's difficult to explain why you play bad," Koeman said. "Even today, the start was difficult. They were really aggressive. But finally we found our ball position. "What we created was good football ... Maybe one critical point was that it took too long to score the second one ... It's difficult to explain why one time you play badly and the next time you are really sharp from the beginning."

It was nevertheless a game to remember for Romania and their loud mass of yellow-clad fans, who have lit up Euro 2024. It was only the second time Romania had qualified for the knockout stage at the continental championship and they did so as group winners.

The bouncing yellow wall at one end of the stadium gave its team such a magnificent send-off – singing and applauding the players long after the final whistle – that it was almost as though Romania had won the game.

"Today we ended a great story, which we started two years ago. We continued that story here in Germany along with the fans of the national team," Romania coach Edward Iordanescu said. "The team gave a great effort, but there is some sadness. We wanted more, but we gave our all. Thank you to my lads, the supporters and Romanians everywhere in the world who supported us."