England came back from an early Xavi Simons scorcher to beat the Netherlands in the final minute with a controversial Harry Kane penalty and Ollie Watkins goal, with Denzel Dumfries in the thick of it.

Gareth Southgate’s men reach their second consecutive European Championship Final, after losing to Italy on penalties, and will face Spain on Sunday.

The Dutch were getting stronger after a terrible start, beating Romania and Turkey after finishing third in their group behind Austria and France. On the other hand, England scraped through in extra time with Slovakia after a last-gasp equaliser and needed penalties to see off Switzerland, but Marc Guehi returned from suspension.

It was an aggressive start from the Netherlands, who took an early lead when Xavi Simons robbed Declan Rice, charged forward and smashed a ferocious shot into the far top corner from the edge of the box.

Harry Kane’s long-range attempt was parried and he then blasted over under pressure from Inter full-back Denzel Dumfries after the Bukayo Saka solo run was blocked. However, VAR controversially called the referee for a penalty, as Dumfries went up with a high boot and caught Kane, also earning a yellow card. Kane stepped up himself and converted to equalise.

Phil Foden thought he had turned the game around with a mazy run and finish from the tightest of angles, but it was cleared off the Netherlands line by Dumfries, making up for the earlier penalty error.

Inter star Dumfries remained in the thick of the action, his header thumping the crossbar on a corner, followed straight away by a fantastic Foden left-foot curler that struck the woodwork at the far top corner.

Memphis Depay went off with a muscular problem and Bart Veerbruggen smothered the Foden snapshot, while Jordan Pickford made a desperate reaction save on Virgil van Dijk.

Saka had the ball in the net on 79 minutes, but only after Kyle Walker had wandered offside for the assist.

As it seemed to be heading towards extra time, substitute Ollie Watkins turned Inter defender Stefan de Vrij and drilled the angled drive across Veerbruggen into the far bottom corner from the tightest of angles.

Simons 8 (N), Kane pen 18 (E), Watkins 90 (E)