In the quarter-finals of the Under-21 European Championships, the Netherlands shocked Portugal, overcoming an early red card to win 1-0.

Portugal made a bright start, creating two chances in the opening phase and showing their attacking intentions, although neither found the back of the net.

Portugal's hunt for a semi-final spot was helped when AZ winger Ruben van Bommel — son of former Bayern Munich, Milan and Barcelona midfielder Marco van Bommel — was shown two yellow cards in quick succession, the second of which was for a late tackle on future Chelsea forward Geovany Quenda in the 21^(st) minute.

The Netherlands' disastrous first 30 minutes continued when Roma right-back Devyne Rensch conceded a penalty after a VAR review. Quenda stepped up, but the Sporting Portugal talent hit the post, keeping the score at 0–0.

After the break, the Netherlands were unable to maintain the pressure they had applied in the final minutes of the first half, and mostly resorted to trying to see out the game with ten men.

Despite their valiant defensive efforts and lack of offensive play, the Dutch broke free with speedster Ernest Poku, who found Bjorn Meijer in the box. However, the left-back could not convert.

Poku continued to shine and became the Dutch hero in the 84^(th) minute when the AZ winger opened the scoring. Maatsen played a perfect deep ball to Poku, who found the space behind the defence, evaded Benfica stopper Samuel Soares, and calmly finished.

Portugal had not conceded a goal in the tournament so far, while the Netherlands had performed poorly in Slovakia before finally winning their first game in their third group stage match. Nevertheless, it was the Dutch who pulled through and secured their second semi-final spot in four years.