Serbia lost to the Netherlands 2:1 in Eindhoven, suffering a fourth defeat in the Nations League. The result leaves Serbia on the verge of relegation from the elite League A.
The Netherlands took the lead in the first half, but Serbia responded quickly to equalise. Mihajlo Cvetković scored for Serbia, netting his first goal for the national team.
The Netherlands regained the lead in the second half, with Joshua Zirkzee scoring the final goal. Denzel Dumfries delivered a low cross to the far post, where Tijjani Reijnders controlled the ball and laid it off into the penalty area for Zirkzee, who scored from close range.
Serbian head coach Veljko Paunović was furious with the performance of Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas. In the 83rd minute, two Serbian players went down, prompting Paunović to stand up from the bench, remove his jacket and shout angrily at the referee. He was subsequently shown a yellow card.
Following the match, Paunović accused the referee of bias. "We reached this point in the performance against a top-class opponent, but the officiating was not right," Paunović said. "We are not satisfied with the refereeing."
"A team like the Netherlands does not need help, and there should be no double standards," Paunović added. "Against such a strong opponent, we showed that we have a strong and resilient mentality, and that we can compete with them. We are not yet at that level, but we are getting closer, definitely getting closer."
