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Writer's pictureThe Season Ticket

Euro 2020 | Wijnaldum scores twice as Dutch beat North Macedonia in Group C

The Netherlands have beaten North Macedonia 3-0 in Amsterdam to finish top of Euro 2020 Group C with a perfect record.

Memphis Depay finished off a flowing team move to give the Dutch the lead after 24 minutes, Georginio Wijnaldum scored twice in the second half to move above Marco van Basten in Netherlands' all-time scoring charts.

The victory sees the Oranje, who were already confirmed as group winners before the game, finish Group C with three wins from three and advance to the last 16 of the tournament.

North Macedonia finish bottom of Group C after their third successive defeat, but posed plenty of problems to Frank de Boer's side in the first half.

In the 10th minute, Goran Pandev threaded a delightful through ball behind the Dutch defence for Ivan Trickovski to run on to.

Trickovski blasted past Maarten Stekelenburg, but his goal was corretly ruled out by the offside flag.

The Netherlands survived another big scare in the 22nd minute when Aleksandar Trajkovski's strike from distance rebounded off the butt of the post after a clever flick from Pandev found his teammate on the edge of the box.

Depay gave the hosts the lead with a brilliant team goal soon afterwards.

Donny Malen drove forward from his own half before passing to Depay on the halfway line. Depay played the ball down the right flank for Malen to race on to, with Malen then pulling the ball back to Depay in the box for the Barcelona attacker to sweep into the bottom corner with a clinical finish.

Denzel Dumfries should have continued his fine goalscoring run on the half hour mark, but was denied at the back post by a superb tole Dimitrievski save after Malen had picked the defender out with a low cross.

Dutch captain Wijnaldum made it 2-0 in the 51st minute, tapping into an empty net from Depay's low cross after a good through ball from Ryan Gravenbach in the buildup.

The PSG midfielder scored his second six minutes later, finishing into an empty net after Dimitrievski parried Depay's initial effort.

North Macedonia veteran Pandev, who was earning his 105th and final cap, was given a guard of honour by his teammates when he was substituted int he 68th minute.

Soon afterwards, Darko Churlinov saw his fine curling finish ruled out by the offside flag.

The Dutch march on to the last 16, while North Macedonia's tournament has come to an end.

Elsewhere, Austria have beaten Ukraine 1-0 to finish second behind the Netherlands in Group C.

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