European Championship - Group C
North MacedoniaNorth Macedonia0NetherlandsNetherlands3

North Macedonia 0-3 Netherlands: Wijnaldum and Depay goals make it three wins from three

Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum celebrate
Memphis Depay is just the second Dutch player to both score and provide an assist in a game at both the European Championship and the World Cup, after Wesley Sneijder

Goals from Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum helped the Netherlands beat North Macedonia to make it three wins from three at Euro 2020.

Frank de Boer's side had already secured top spot in Group C with a game to spare having beaten Ukraine and Austria.

And they produced another dominant performance in front of 12,000 fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.

The Dutch opened the scoring with a devastating counter-attack, started by a Daley Blind tackle on the edge of his own box and finished by a first-time Memphis Depay strike from Donyell Malen's cross.

Depay, playing his first game since his move to Barcelona was announced, now has nine goals and three assists in his past 10 games for the Netherlands.

Wijnaldum wrapped the game up in the second half with two goals in seven minutes, first tapping in from from Depay's well-placed cross, before Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski's save from Depay fell nicely for another close-range finish from the Netherlands captain.

The Dutch will travel to Budapest for their last-16 tie, where they will face the third-placed finisher from Group D, E or F on 27 June.

Goran Pandev's guard of honour
Goran Pandev became the first North Macedonia player to score at a major tournament when he was on target against Austria

It was an emotional affair for Macedonian captain Goran Pandev, who was making his 122nd and final appearance for his country.

The veteran striker was given a guard of honour by his team-mates when he was substituted in the 69th minute as the curtain came down on his international career at the age of 37.

He retires as North Macedonia's record appearance holder, and record goalscorer, with 38 goals, almost twice as many as the next player on the list.

Tournament debutants North Macedonia, who became the first team to be eliminated after defeats against Austria and Ukraine, were not bowing out without a fight.

It even looked as if Pandev would leave the big stage with a final assist, when Ivan Trichkovski netted from his clever through-ball inside 10 minutes, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

Darko Churlinov had a second-half goal ruled out for offside, and Aleksandar Trajkovski hit the woodwork, but the visitors otherwise offered little attacking threat.

North Macedonia are just the fourth team to lose all of their matches on their first appearance at a European Championship finals, after Turkey in 1996, Denmark in 1964 and France in the inaugural tournament in 1960.

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North Macedonia

Starting XI

  1. Squad number1Player nameDimitrievski
    Average rating

    6.03

  2. Squad number13Player nameRistovski
    Average rating

    6.26

  3. Squad number14Player nameVelkovski
    Average rating

    6.37

  4. Squad number6Player nameMusliu
    Average rating

    6.40

  5. Squad number8Player nameAlioski
    Average rating

    7.81

  6. Squad number5Player nameAdemi
    Average rating

    6.59

  7. Squad number17Player nameBardhi
    Average rating

    6.66

  8. Squad number7Player nameTrichkovski
    Average rating

    6.64

  9. Squad number21Player nameElmas
    Average rating

    6.73

  10. Squad number9Player nameTrajkovski
    Average rating

    6.72

  11. Squad number10Player namePandev
    Average rating

    7.67

Substitutes

  1. Squad number11Player nameHasani
    Average rating

    6.14

  2. Squad number15Player nameKostadinov
    Average rating

    6.15

  3. Squad number16Player nameNikolov
    Average rating

    5.94

  4. Squad number18Player nameStojanovski
    Average rating

    5.99

  5. Squad number25Player nameChurlinov
    Average rating

    6.05

Netherlands

Starting XI

  1. Squad number1Player nameStekelenburg
    Average rating

    5.98

  2. Squad number6Player namede Vrij
    Average rating

    6.18

  3. Squad number3Player namede Ligt
    Average rating

    6.58

  4. Squad number17Player nameBlind
    Average rating

    6.32

  5. Squad number22Player nameDumfries
    Average rating

    6.81

  6. Squad number21Player namede Jong
    Average rating

    6.86

  7. Squad number16Player nameGravenberch
    Average rating

    6.17

  8. Squad number12Player namevan Aanholt
    Average rating

    6.29

  9. Squad number8Player nameWijnaldum
    Average rating

    8.15

  10. Squad number10Player nameDepay
    Average rating

    7.61

  11. Squad number18Player nameMalen
    Average rating

    6.71

Substitutes

  1. Squad number7Player nameBerghuis
    Average rating

    6.14

  2. Squad number11Player namePromes
    Average rating

    5.86

  3. Squad number19Player nameWeghorst
    Average rating

    6.14

  4. Squad number25Player nameTimber
    Average rating

    6.14

  5. Squad number26Player nameGakpo
    Average rating

    6.10

Line-ups

North Macedonia

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 1Dimitrievski
  • 13RistovskiBooked at 18mins
  • 14Velkovski
  • 6MusliuBooked at 48mins
  • 8AlioskiBooked at 65mins
  • 5AdemiSubstituted forNikolovat 79'minutes
  • 17BardhiSubstituted forStojanovskiat 78'minutes
  • 7TrichkovskiSubstituted forChurlinovat 56'minutes
  • 21Elmas
  • 9TrajkovskiSubstituted forHasaniat 68'minutes
  • 10PandevSubstituted forKostadinovat 69'minutesBooked at 84mins

Substitutes

  • 3Zajkov
  • 4Ristevski
  • 11Hasani
  • 12Jankov
  • 15Kostadinov
  • 16Nikolov
  • 18Stojanovski
  • 19Velkoski
  • 20Spirovski
  • 22Siskovski
  • 24Avramovski
  • 25Churlinov

Netherlands

Formation 3-4-1-2

  • 1Stekelenburg
  • 6de VrijSubstituted forTimberat 45'minutes
  • 3de Ligt
  • 17Blind
  • 22DumfriesSubstituted forBerghuisat 45'minutes
  • 21de JongSubstituted forGakpoat 79'minutes
  • 16Gravenberch
  • 12van Aanholt
  • 8Wijnaldum
  • 10DepaySubstituted forWeghorstat 66'minutes
  • 18MalenSubstituted forPromesat 66'minutes

Substitutes

  • 2Veltman
  • 4Aké
  • 7Berghuis
  • 9de Jong
  • 11Promes
  • 13Krul
  • 14Klaassen
  • 19Weghorst
  • 23Bizot
  • 24Koopmeiners
  • 25Timber
  • 26Gakpo
Referee:
István Kovács

Match Stats

Home TeamNorth MacedoniaAway TeamNetherlands
Possession
Home41%
Away59%
Shots
Home13
Away17
Shots on Target
Home1
Away7
Corners
Home5
Away7
Fouls
Home8
Away13

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, North Macedonia 0, Netherlands 3.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, North Macedonia 0, Netherlands 3.

  3. Post update

    Offside, Netherlands. Daley Blind tries a through ball, but Quincy Promes is caught offside.

  4. Post update

    Foul by Cody Gakpo (Netherlands).

  5. Post update

    Ezgjan Alioski (North Macedonia) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  6. Post update

    Corner, North Macedonia. Conceded by Jurriën Timber.

  7. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Eljif Elmas (North Macedonia) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is blocked. Assisted by Stole Dimitrievski.

  8. Post update

    Corner, Netherlands. Conceded by Stole Dimitrievski.

  9. Post update

    Attempt missed. Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Ryan Gravenberch.

  10. Post update

    Attempt missed. Boban Nikolov (North Macedonia) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Ezgjan Alioski.

  11. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Wout Weghorst (Netherlands) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

  12. Booking

    Tihomir Kostadinov (North Macedonia) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  13. Post update

    Steven Berghuis (Netherlands) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  14. Post update

    Foul by Tihomir Kostadinov (North Macedonia).

  15. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Eljif Elmas (North Macedonia) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Tihomir Kostadinov.

  16. Post update

    Foul by Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands).

  17. Post update

    Boban Nikolov (North Macedonia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  18. Post update

    Attempt missed. Darko Velkovski (North Macedonia) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Ezgjan Alioski with a cross following a corner.

  19. Post update

    Corner, North Macedonia. Conceded by Ryan Gravenberch.

  20. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Vlatko Stojanovski (North Macedonia) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is blocked. Assisted by Darko Churlinov with a cross.

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As It Stands

A

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Italy33007079
2Wales31113214
3Switzerland311145-14
4Turkey300318-70

B

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1Belgium22005146
2Russia210113-23
3Finland21011103
4Denmark200213-20

C

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1Netherlands33008269
2Austria32014316
3Ukraine310245-13
4North Macedonia300328-60

D

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2England21101014
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4Scotland201102-21

E

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2Slovakia21012203
3Spain20201102
4Poland201123-11

F

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1France21102114
2Germany21014313
3Portugal21015413
4Hungary201114-31
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