The Netherlands beat England 3-1 in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals on Thursday night, with Liverpool’s Dutch contingent coming out on top.
Following the Reds’ unforgettable Champions League triumph last weekend, five players swiftly found themselves back in potential action for their nations.
Portugal reached the final at the expense of Xherdan Shaqiri‘s Switzerland on Wednesday evening and it was the Netherlands who joined them.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson were left out of Gareth Southgate’s starting lineup in Porto, following their excursions in Madrid.
The same applied to Joe Gomez, who was not deemed match fit, starting on the substitutes’ bench behind John Stones and Harry Maguire.
It was a different story for the Dutch, however, with Ronald Koeman starting both Virgil van Dijk and Gini Wijnaldum.
England led at half-time courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s penalty, but it was all set to fall apart later.
After the pre-match build-up in Portugal had seen England ‘fans’ behaving like morons and fighting with police, they then proceded to boo PFA Player of the Year Van Dijk in-match. Jealousy is for simpletons.
Rumoured Reds transfer target Matthijs de Ligt headed home a deserved equaliser with 17 minutes remaining and Wijnaldum helped dominate the midfield battle after dropping into a No.6 role.
Henderson was swiftly after the equaliser and his impact was so nearly huge, as he teed-up Jesse Lingard to score, only for the goal to be disallowed after a VAR check.
Extra-time was required to decide the victor – something both the Liverpool and Tottenham players could quite easily have done without.
Kyle Walker’s own goal and a further strike from Qunicy Promes after another mix-up in defence saw Koeman’s men book a place in the final.
Netherlands will play Portugal, while England will play Switzerland in the third-place game – bet you can’t wait to watch that one.
