Netherlands will be bidding to bounce back from their heavy defeat to France when they continue their Euro 2024 qualification campaign at home to Gibraltar on Monday night.

Holland opened their Group B campaign with a 4-0 loss to France on Friday, while Gibraltar suffered a 3-0 defeat to Greece in their first match in the section.

Match preview

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Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman said after the France game that he was not looking to make excuses for the disappointing performance despite his side being without a number of key players through a mixture of illness, injury and suspension.

Holland must now bounce back when they welcome Gibraltar on Monday, with the national side looking to get off the mark in Group B, which also includes Republic of Ireland.

Netherlands reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, losing to winners Argentina on penalties following a 2-2 draw, but they went out in the round of 16 in Euro 2020.

Holland won the European Championship back in 1988, while they have reached the semi-finals on three occasions since then, so the national side certainly have previous when it comes to advancing deep into the competition.

Oranje will fully expect to bounce back from the France defeat in this contest, and their attention will then switch to the UEFA Nations League, preparing to take on Croatia in the semi-finals of the 2022-23 competition in the middle of June.

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Gibraltar, meanwhile, will enter the contest off the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Greece on Friday, with Giorgos Masouras, Emmanouil Siopis and Anastasios Bakasetas on the scoresheet.

Julio Cesar Ribas's side had actually beaten Liechtenstein and Andorra in their two games ahead of the clash with Greece, but they have not won a competitive match since October 2020 in the UEFA Nations League.

Gibraltar failed to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, while they were also not present at the finals of the European Championship in 2016 or 2020, so it would be a huge shock to see them at Euro 2024.

Los Llanis have lost each of their previous 18 European Championship qualification matches, scoring only five times in the process, which is an indication of the size of their task in this section.

Gibraltar have faced Netherlands on two previous occasions, meanwhile, losing 7-0 at home and 6-0 away to Monday's opponents during qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Team News

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Netherlands are again expected to be without Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman, Sven Botman and Bart Verbruggen for Monday's match, having missed out against France through illness.

Denzel Dumfries is available following a suspension, but Holland are also missing a couple of important players in the shape of Frenkie de Jong and Steven Bergwijn through injury.

Head coach Koeman is expected to make changes for this contest, with Wout Weghorst, Davy Klaassen, Daley Blind potentially coming into this side, while Donyell Malen could also feature in a forward area.

As for Gibraltar, no injuries have been reported from their clash with Greece last time out.

Liam Walker is the highest goalscorer in the current squad with five, and the 34-year-old should again feature in an advanced area for his country in this match.

Lee Casciaro, who will tun 42 later this year, is also being tipped to retain his spot in the side, with 40-year-old Roy Chipolina captaining the team from the middle of the defence.

Netherlands possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; Dumfries, Ake, Van Dijk, Blind; Wijnaldum, De Roon, Klaassen; Memphis, Weghorst, Malen

Gibraltar possible starting lineup:
Coleing; Sergeant, R Chipolina, Lopes, Olivero; Valarino, Torrilla, Ronan, Britto; Walker, Casciaro

We say: Netherlands 5-0 Gibraltar

Netherlands were so disappointing against France last time out, but we are fully expecting Koeman's side to bounce back in this match. Gibraltar would not have wanted to face Holland off the back of a heavy loss, and we are tipping the home side to win their second game in the section in style.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Matt Law

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