Donyell Malen grabbed a brace as the Netherlands beat Romania 3-0 in their round of 16 clash on Tuesday to qualify for the quarterfinals.
They took the lead after 20 minutes when Cody Gakpo drilled a low angled shot home at goalkeeper Florin Nita’s near post before Malan’s late double helped set up a quarter-final with Austria or Turkey, who play later on Friday, in Berlin on Saturday.
The Netherlands had two thirds of possession and almost five times more chances 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.
Speaking after notching his third goal of the tournament, Gakpo said: “I think we played a good game and showed a great reaction from the last game and I am very pleased. Especially after the last game we needed a reaction and today was a good step in the right direction.
“We talked a lot about the aggression, the intensity and defending like a team. It was a good step and I am very happy we won.”
With his brace, Malen became the fourth Netherlands player to score more than one goal in a knockout match at the Euros, and the first since Patrick Kluivert (3) and Marc Overmars (2) netted in a 6-1 win against Yugoslavia at Euro 2000.
