Tens of thousands of disappointed Dutch football fans were making their way home from Dortmund on Thursday after Oranje’s dramatic last-minute defeat to England in the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

Dutch supporters turned the centre of the Ruhr city orange all day and outnumbered their English counterparts in the Westfalenstadion, but the team were unable to make the difference on the pitch.

Xavi Simons sent the crowd into raptures with a goal after just six minutes, but England equalised with a controversial penalty by Harry Kane and dominated the first half.

A more even second half looked to be heading for extra-time until substitute Ollie Watkins scored for England in the 90th minute, leaving the Netherlands with no time to respond.

“We got to the semi-finals, so I’m really proud, but otherwise it’s a shame,” one supporter told NOS.

“We didn’t expect this after [the 3-2 defeat to] Austria, but we can be proud of what we achieved,” said another. England are a tough team but we stood up to them and didn’t give many chances away.”

Fans packed into bars, town squares and public spaces to follow the game on giant screens and cheer on the team, but were stunned into silence by the dramatic late twist.

Fan walk

“The Netherlands was 10 times better in the second half. England didn’t deserve it,” a fan watching in The Hague told Omroep West.

An estimated 100,000 supporters made the short journey to Dortmund, which is less than 100 km from the Dutch border, even though only 10,000 tickets were available.

The rest took part in a “fan walk” to the stadium before watching the game on TV monitors around the city.

Police made a total of 26 arrests in the course of the day, but said they were “largely satisfied” with the way events proceeded.

Head coach Ronald Koeman said he was proud of his players for coming so close to their first European Championship final for 36 years, but criticised the decision to award a penalty to England in the first half.

“Not a penalty”

Defender Denzel Dumfries clipped Harry Kane’s foot as the English striker released a shot that went wide of the goal. Referee Felix Zwayer initially gave a goal-kick, but changed his mind after being called over to watch the video replay.

“What are you supposed to do as a defender? It’s not a penalty,” Koeman said. “He wanted to block the ball and Kane shot, so they collided. I think these sort of decisions are ruining football.”

But midfielder Joey Veerman, who came on in the first half to replace injured striker Memphis Depay, refused to lay the blame for the defeat at the referee’s feet.

“It’s always difficult with the VAR

,” Veerman told the Telegraaf. “If you play everything back in slow motion and there’s been contact you know that the referee will point to the spot. But in the end it would be bad for us to blame the referee for this defeat.”