Yilmaz hat-trick inspires underdogs Turkey to win over ‘disappointing’ Netherlands

Turkey's forward Burak Yilmaz (left) celebrates with Turkey's defender Caner Erkin after scoring his second goal. AFP

Inspired Turkey notched up a stunning 4-2 victory over the Netherlands, sweeping aside the toughest opponents in their World Cup qualifying group.

Veteran captain Burak Yilmaz scored a hat-trick in the first match of the European qualifiers for Qatar 2022.

"This was the first and also the most important game on the way to Qatar," coach Senol Gunes said.

"We really played at the top level, we did exactly what we had to do and what the game demanded of us. We managed to disrupt the attacking game of the Netherlands.

"But we also gave away something, we will have to look at that," he said.

Turkey were 3-0 ahead shortly after half-time through two Yilmaz goals and a Hakan Calhanoglu strike, but Dutch substitutes Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong gave Frank de Boer's Dutchmen hope.

Yilmaz sealed Turkey’s crucial win with a wonderful free-kick.

Tukey conceded two goals in a two-minute spell in the second half as the Dutch threatened a comeback, reducing the deficit to one goal.

"It was very important to start like this, we see the Netherlands as our biggest competitor," he said. "We are happy and proud but we need to forget this victory as soon as possible, because tomorrow the focus must be on the game with Norway," Yilmaz said.

For the Dutch, de Boer called it a "very disappointing result”.

"We knew that they would try to hit us on the counter-attack, and yet the first goal was a classic example of that. Our tempo should have been higher, especially before the break," he said.

The defeat is a dreadful start to the campaign for the Netherlands, who failed to qualify for either Euro 2016 or the 2018 World Cup, but are one of the favourites ahead of the delayed Euro 2020 finals this year.

It was Turkey's second straight win over the Netherlands, after a 3-0 victory in 2015 which helped them qualify for the Euros.