Portugal beaten 1-0 by the Netherlands in the 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship quarter-finals | OneFootball

Portugal’s 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship campaign came to a disappointing conclusion in Zilina where they suffered a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to the Netherlands.

Rui Jorge’s side were given a huge boost in the 21st minute when Ruben van Bommel received a second yellow card.

Tiago Tomás won a penalty seven minutes later and Geovany Quenda stepped up to the spot, his effort hitting the post and bouncing away from danger.

The Equipa das Quinas were unable to break through a determined Dutch defence and paid the price in the 84th minute when Ernest Poku got past João Muniz, Flávio Nazinho and Samuel Soares before firing into an empty net.

Portugal 0-1 Netherlands

Portugal pressed forward in the opening stages in Zilina, Tiago Tomás unable to connect cleanly after some nice combination play between Geovany Quenda and Rodrigo Pinheiro.

Quenda then fired two efforts wide before Diogo Nascimento released Gustavo Sá, the attacking midfielder dragging his shot wide from a tight angle.

Ruben van Bommel was booked for a cynical challenge on Pinheiro in the 18th minute and received his marching orders less than two minutes later. Quenda threatened to break clear, Van Bommel taking him out to earn a second yellow card and an early shower.

Portugal continued to threaten and were rewarded in the 27th minute when Tomás was brought down by Devyne Rensch. Referee Goga Kikacheishvili was ordered to the touchline monitor by the VAR and then pointed to the spot, Quenda stepping up and sending Robin Roefs the wrong way but seeing his spot kick hit the post.

The Netherlands responded well despite their numerical disadvantage and thought they had scored in the 36th minute when Chico Lamba turned Ian Maatsen’s cross into his own net, the goal ruled out for offside. Million Manhoef then flew past João Muniz and squared the ball to Thom van Bergen who forced a fine save from Samuel Soares.

Tomás had picked up a knock in winning the penalty and was replaced by Henrique Araújo at the break, the striker taking the captain’s armband from Paulo Bernardo.

Berardo tested Roefs before Michael Reiziger brought on Bjorn Meijer for Luciano Valente in the 53rd minute.

Diogo Nascimento gave Roefs some catching practice but Portugal were not seriously threatening the Dutch goalkeeper. Jorge went to his bench again in the 63rd minute when Carlos Forbs came on for Bernardo.

Sá shot straight at Roefs as the pattern continued against the well organised and compact Dutch defence. Reiziger brought on Ernest Poku for Manhoef before Jorge brought on Pedro Santos and João Marques for Mateus Fernandes and Sá with ten minutes remaining.

Poku immediately made an impact by getting forward and isolating Muniz, the speedster getting the ball to Meijer who missed the target. The warning wasn’t heeded as the Netherlands took the lead in the 84th minute.

It was a brilliant ball from Maatsen who had moved further forward after the introduction of Meijer. Maatsen steered the ball to Poku who got behind Muniz and raced away from Flávio Nazinho, the substitute rounding Soares and passing the ball into an empty net.

Pinheiro made way for Rodrgio Gomes but it was too late, Jong Oranje holding on to book a spot in the semi-finals.

Disappointing defeat

Portugal had a great start in Zilina and were strong favourites to advance following Ruben van Bommel’s 21st minute red card. They had a glorious chance to take the lead from the penalty spot ten minutes later but Geovany Quenda’s spot kick hit the post.

When Million Manhoef sped past João Muniz and teed up Thom van Bergen before the break, it was obvious Michael Reiziger would instruct his players to target the young Sporting Clube de Portugal centre-back.

The 19-year-old has been playing for Sporting’s B team in Liga 3 and it was always going to be a tall order once the level of opposition increased in Slovakia. Thrown in at the deep end and by no fault of his own, the sharks smelled blood in the water, circled and Ernest Poku was the one to make the killer blow and end the contest.

It was obvious on paper that the Dutch defence was far superior than Portugal’s and so it proved. Their experience and class was required when Van Bommel was sent off and they answered the call.

Eduardo Quaresma’s withdrawal on the eve of the tournament was a severe blow to Portugal’s chances at the tournament. It might have made no difference at all, but there is no doubt that Quaresma is way further ahead of Muniz in terms of age and top flight experience.

Quaresma was not the only eligible player missing from Portugal's squad in Slovakia. Fábio Silva left the squad days before the start of the tournament and other players that contributed in the qualifiers included Tomás Araújo, Renato Veiga, Tiago Santos, Dário Essugo, João Neves, Vasco Sousa, Rodrigo Mora and Francisco Conceição.

Rui Jorge was missing the injured Roger Fernandes against the Netherlands and instead of replacing the winger with Rodrigo Gomes or Carlos Forbs, he decided to start Gustavo Sá and change the formation. It wasn’t necessarily a bad decision, but the decision to bring Forbs off the bench ahead of Gomes certainly was.

Gomes had scored two goals off the bench in the group stage and, like Quaresma over Muniz, is simply a better player than Forbs. Jorge had made some interesting decisions in Slovakia, especially leaving Quenda on the pitch for another 20 minutes after he scored to make it 2-0 against a 10 man Georgian side in the final group game.

Jorge was close to tears after the match, as his players would have been in the dressing room, and when asked the obvious question about his future, he said “I don’t know and it's not the right time to talk about it.”

The 52-year-old has been in charge of Portugal’s U21 side since 2010, losing finals against Sweden in 2015 and Germany in 2023. With his contract up in July and Pedro Proença eager to make his mark as the new boss of the FPF, I suspect this was Jorge’s final game in charge.

Fifteen years is a long reign, during which time Portugal have won two of the previous eight European U17 Championships. Jorge has done a great job at developing players, showing them how to represent their nation and getting many of them ready for the Seleção, but nothing lasts forever. Força.

Match reaction

Rui Jorge: “Considering the feelings of the dressing room in a situation like this, there are no easy words. There is nothing I haven't said throughout the whole journey. Everything we have done so far has been commendable since qualifying, which was not easy at all.

The higher we’ve climbed, the harder it is to stay up there, and today was an example of this. Today was an example of this. We are talking about the eight best teams and we have to be close to perfection to be able to continue in the competition.

We have to constantly show our quality. We did so at times, but in this game we were not as strong. We fought, we tried, but things don't always work out for the best. We fall by the wayside.”

Henrique Araújo: “It’s difficult, very sad. We had everything we needed to get through and reach the semi-finals, which would have been good for us and brought us closer to our goal. In the end, we weren’t up to it, against a team that, with one less man, closed up at the back and wasted more time.

“We also didn’t create the opportunities we should have, against a team that was playing with one less player. Then, due to a collective error, they ended up breaking away and taking advantage of the opportunity. We have to understand that they have an excellent team and that they defended very well, but we should have created more opportunities from the moment they were left with only ten players.”

Mateus Fernandes: “The penalty miss was important, but it is not everything. We could have done much better in the second half. We did very well in the group stage - we scored nine goals, and today they scored just one goal against us, and we are out. We need to learn from this.”

Rodrigo Pinheiro: “There are no words. We tried everything until the end. We had the penalty, we had clear opportunities, but then, at the end of the game, we had an unfortunate incident, which led to their goal.

We have to move on. We knew they were very strong in depth and the goal was like that: the ball behind the back, one on one and a goal. It was good for the group stage, but it could have been better because we wanted to go further.”

Diogo Nascimento: “It’s hard to digest. We knew it was going to be a very difficult game. They had a player sent off and we were on top almost the entire game. We had a penalty, which we couldn’t convert. And then we had that incident at the end, a mistake at this level is fatal. It was good to get through the group stage, but we are Portugal and we deserved more, based on the football we played.”

By Matthew Marshall at Stadion pod Dubnom in Zilina

Line Ups

Portugal (4-3-1-2): Samuel Soares; Rodrigo Pinheiro (Rodrigo Gomes 87’), Chico Lamba, João Muniz, Flávio Nazinho; Mateus Fernandes (João Marques 80’), Diogo Nascimento, Paulo Bernardo (Carlos Forbs 63’); Gustavo Sá (Pedro Santos 80’); Geovany Quenda, Tiago Tomás (Henrique Araújo 46’)

Unused substitutes: João Carvalho, Diogo Pinto, Christian Marques, Lourenço Figueiredo, Rafael Rodrigues, Mathias De Amorim

Netherlands (4-3-3): Robin Roefs; Devyne Rensch, Rav van den Berg, Jorrel Hato, Ian Maatsen; Luciano Valente (Bjorn Meijer 53’), Ryan Flamingo, Kenneth Taylor; Million Manhoef (Ernest Poku 79’), Thom van Bergen (Noah Ohio 90’+4), Ruben van Bommel