Dutch fans FUME over controversial penalty decision in Euro 2024 semi-final

Dutch fans have insisted they were 'robbed' by a controversial penalty decision in their 2-1 semi-final loss to England on Wednesday night.

The Netherlands had gone in front after seven minutes through Xavi Simons, but England came back into the game and earned a penalty 11 minutes later.

Bukayo Saka slalomed into the box before having his shot blocked, and the follow-up dropped to Harry Kane who fired over the bar before being caught by Denzel Dumfries on the ankle.

It was a painful blow for the Three Lions captain, and following a VAR intervention a penalty was given, which Kane duly converted to bring England level.

But new footage has emerged that appears to show Saka handling the ball before Kane took his shot and was fouled by Dumfries.

After having his shot blocked, the ball rebounded back towards Saka and seemed to brush his right hand, while it may also have clipped his left arm before dropping to Kane.

The officials appeared to fail to spot this, leaving Dutch supporters furious.

'The Netherlands were 100% robbed!' one fan claimed.

'VAR even missed or didn't care about Saka's handball on both hands before the penalty situation. Lucky England should thank the refs.'

Another fan tweeted out a longer clip, adding: 'Tweet out the first handball as well, he didn't just touch it once in this situation but multiple times'.

The foul on Kane looked to be a debatable call in itself, with Gary Neville branding it a 'disgrace' that a spot-kick was given.

But there is an argument that VAR should not even have looked at the tackle on Kane, as Saka may have handled the ball in the build-up anyway.

Yet they opted to send referee Felix Zwayer over to the monitor, and he pointed to the spot after a second look.

Zwayer being appointed the referee for the semi-final sparked controversy in the build-up as he previously served a six-month ban for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

His ban came after he was found to have accepted a €300 (£253.82) bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer in a 2005 scandal.

However, UEFA stood by Zwayer after conducting a review into whether he was the right man for the job.

The Netherlands were also left questioning a decision in the build-up to Ollie Watkins' 90th-minute winner for England.

They felt they should have had a corner after John Stones headed the ball behind from a Dutch free-kick, but Zwayer awarded England a goal kick.

England then went up the other end and scored to book their place in Sunday's final against Spain.

Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk was unhappy with the officiating during Wednesday's game, and called for the referee to be 'held accountable'.

'I think it says it all that the referee went in quite quickly after the game,' Van Dijk told beIN Sports.

'I had no time to shake his hand. But it is what it is, the game is done, we lost, certain moments were obvious that they should have gone our way, but they didn't, whatever the outcome.

'It is difficult to accept this. It has been a tough year. We had a big dream and we felt we could have achieved it.

'They keep changing certain things, small changes that could have a big impact. Maybe it's a good thing that they could be held accountable as well.

'They didn't come here and speak to you and explain themselves like we have to when we do something wrong.

'That might be something. But I shouldn't speak about others and we have to look at ourselves.'