On Wednesday, June 18, the Ukraine U-21 team played their third and final match at the Euro 2025, losing to their peers from the Netherlands.
The match ended in a convincing victory for Mikael Reijsegger's team with a score of 2:0.
The "blue-yellow" team conceded their first goal in the 31st minute when Arseniy Batagov failed to clear the ball, allowing van Bommel to assist Valente, who scored into the empty net of Ruslan Neshcheret.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the Ukrainian players, who had no chances at all, their attempts to equalize ended in vain, and the team went to halftime trailing by one goal.
In the second half, the team, led by Unai Melgosa, struggled to find their rhythm as attempts from distance went off target, and there were significant issues with finishing attacks. To make matters worse, in the 57th minute, Ukraine conceded a second goal. Again, van Bommel provided a great assist to van Bergen, who evaded Mykhavko and lobbed Neshcheret.
Substitutions were made, but they had no impact on the final outcome. Even a red card for the opponent nine minutes before the final whistle could not help. As a result, Ukraine finished third in their group, which does not grant them a spot in the quarter-finals, where the top two teams from each group advance.
UEFA Euro 2025 (U-21)
Matchday 3, Group D, June 18
Netherlands U-21 – Ukraine U-21 2:0 (1:0)
Goals: 1:0 – 34 Valente, 2:0 – 57 van Bergen
Netherlands U-21: Ruifs – Matsen, Hato, van den Berg, Rens – Taylor (Maier, 90+2), Valente (Regger, 75), Flamingo – van Bommel (van Brederode, 80), van Bergen (Ohio, 79), Menhof (Poku, 74)
Ukraine U-21: Neshcheret – Krupskiy (Kozyk, 75), Mykhavko, Batagov, Vivcharenko – Ocheretko (Yatsyk, 75), Rubchinsky (Tsarenko, 65), Yarmolyuk – Bragaru, Vanat (V'yunyk, 65), Voloshin (Kvasnytsia, 80)
Yellow Cards: 37 – Matsen, 48 – Vivcharenko, 51 – van der Berg, 59 – Ocheretko
Red Card: 81 – Regger (straight red)
As known, in the first round, Unai Melgosa's team suffered a narrow defeat to Denmark (2:3), but in the second match, they triumphed over Finland (2:0). The Netherlands drew with Finland (2:2) and lost to Denmark (1:2) in the previous two matches, so for Ukraine, it was enough not to lose to advance to the quarter-finals.
