Netherlands defeat Romania, Türkiye upset Austria,

Cody Gakpo's opener and two late goals from Donyell Malen helped the Dutchmen to ease past Romania 3-0 into the quarterfinals of Euro 2024 at Munich's Allianz Arena on Tuesday.

Romania started highly motivated and created a notable chance early on, with Dennis Man's shot from the edge of the box going just wide in the 14th minute.

Six minutes later, the Dutch punished Romania's wastefulness as Xavi Simons found Gakpo on the left wing. The Liverpool striker cut inside the box before unleashing a well-placed shot into the near post corner, marking his third goal of the tournament.

The Netherlands gained momentum but failed to add another goal before the break, with Stefan de Vrij heading into the side netting from a tight angle.

Ronald Koeman's men started the second half strongly, with Memphis Depay unable to beat Romania goalkeeper Florin Nita from close range in the 54th minute, and Virgil van Dijk hitting the outside of the post four minutes later.

The Elftal continued to press, but Nita's reflexes denied Gakpo from finishing off his solo run with a goal at the hour mark. Gakpo remained active, though his second goal was ruled offside.

Romania stayed on the back foot but was fortunate as the Netherlands remained wasteful with their promising opportunities.

The Netherlands eventually doubled their advantage in the 83rd minute when Gakpo's build-up play allowed Malen to tap home into the empty net.

Malen wasn't done scoring, as Simons released the Borussia Dortmund striker, who fired past Nita to seal the quarterfinal clash with Turkiye at Berlin's Olympia Stadium on Saturday.

"Today the start was hard, but we eventually found our game and caused them problems. Maybe one critical point was that it took too long to score the second goal. We caused Romania big problems with our attacking," said the Netherlands coach Koeman.

Meanwhile, Merih Demiral's double strike was enough for Türkiye to eliminate stubborn Austria 2-1 in a Euro 2024 round of 16 match at Leipzig's Red Bull Arena on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

The Turks had a fairy tale start to the clash, scoring the fastest goal in the knockout stages of the Euro tournament as Austria couldn't clear the ball following a corner, allowing Demiral to tap home the opener just 57 seconds into the game.

Austria responded with furious attacks, but Christoph Baumgartner missed two chances to restore parity. The Austrians struggled to create more chances against Türkiye's well-organized defense and failed to produce clear-cut opportunities before the break. Meanwhile, Vincenzo Montella's side remained dangerous, with Demiral heading over the target following another corner kick.

After the restart, Austria came out with momentum and kept Türkiye's defense busy. However, Marco Arnautovic couldn't beat goalkeeper Mert Gunok, and Konrad Laimer pulled wide from a promising position moments later.

Despite Austria's pressure, it was Montella's side that scored against the flow of the game. Demiral nodded home his second goal from a corner, making it two for Türkiye.

Austria managed to answer and halve the deficit through substitute Michael Gregoritsch, who sparked hopes after drilling a flicked-on corner into the roof of the net with plenty of time left to play.

Austria went in search of the equalizer, throwing every man forward, while Türkiye kept all their men behind the ball, waiting for counterattack opportunities. Baris Yilmaz had the golden chance to finish off one of those counterattacks but missed the target from inside the box with only goalkeeper Patrick Pentz to beat.

Rangnick's side nearly restored parity in the dying seconds of the match, but Gunok denied Baumgartner's close-range header with a one-handed parry on the goal line.

With this result, Türkiye advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2008, where they will face the Netherlands at Berlin's Olympia Stadium on Saturday.

"We didn't have the necessary luck, and I believe if the game had gone to extra time, we would have won. We had time to score an equalizer. We didn't make enough of our own chances, and we didn't defend their set pieces well enough," said Austria coach Rangnick.