Netherlands 4-2 Denmark: Vivianne Miedema double gives hosts historic win

A double from Vivianne Miedema helped the Netherlands beat Denmark 4-2 to hand her country a first European Championship title in front of an expectant home crowd in Enschede.

Denmark raced into an early lead as Nadia Nadim calmly converted her penalty after Sanne Troelsgaard was upended by Kika Van Es, but the hosts equalised shortly after thanks to Miedema's emphatic finish from close-range.

The Netherlands went ahead just before the half-hour mark with Lieke Martens scoring from distance, but the Danes drew level following a wonderful solo run and effort from Pernille Harder.

Just after the interval the Dutch regained the lead through captain Sherida Spitse's free-kick and Miedema settled an enthralling encounter late on with another fine strike.

Despite going into the game as underdogs it was Denmark who opened the scoring with just six minutes on the clock as Nadim stepped up to send a spot-kick expertly into the corner of the net after Van Es had clumsily tripped Troelsgaard.

However, Nils Nielsen's side were not in front for long as Miedema, who recently joined Arsenal from Bayern Munich, equalised just four minutes later by thumping home from close range after Shanice van de Sanden had picked her out perfectly with a cut-back.

Following sustained pressure on the Danish goal, the hosts took the lead on 27 minutes as Martens swivelled on the edge of the area before releasing a rasping shot that skidded past the despairing dive of Stina Petersen into the corner of the net.

But Denmark recovered from that setback just past the half-hour mark when Harder latched onto a through ball on the right flank, advanced into the area and smashed an unstoppable effort past Sari van Veenendaal with her weaker left-foot.

It was anyone's game for the taking but the Netherlands regained the initiative five minutes after the interval through Spitse, who cleverly passed the ball into the bottom corner from a free-kick with Petersen rooted to the spot on the other side of the goal.

Denmark rallied impressively once more and almost scored a third as Troelsgaard's half volley flew inches away from the top corner before Miedema made sure of the win two minutes from time with a clinical finish from close-range.

Player of the match

Lieke Martens: All three of the Netherland's front players were excellent but Martens was the star of the show using her speed and skill to hurt the Danish defence while she also scored the goal of the game with a brilliant strike from distance.