Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and England have booked themselves places in the semi-finals of Euro 2017, after exciting quarter-final matches which didn't fail to impress.

Germany, France, Sweden and Spain have all made exits from the competition after defeats against lower ranked sides.

Netherlands 2-0 Sweden

A fully packed Stadion De Vijverberg hosted the first quarter-final which saw the hosts, the Netherlands, come away with a 2-0 victory against Sweden. It's the second time in history that Oranje have made it through to the semi-finals of the tournament.

An entertaining and open match began as expected with both sides displaying their attacking capabilities. Slowly but surely the home nation grew with confidence, and as a result went 1-0 up courtesy of none other than Lieke Martens.

The second-half showed the divide in class between the teams, as the Dutch continued to dominate proceedings. Their lead was deservedly doubled in the 64th minute; Vivianne Miedema registered her first goal of the Euro campaign.

Despite being on the back foot for the majority of the match, Sweden did have chances throughout, mostly thanks to Stina Blackstenius, but didn't make use of them. It was a disappointing tournament for the Swedes, but it was always going to be a hard task to beat the Netherlands on home soil.

Player of the match: Jackie Groenen (Netherlands)

The free-kick which broke the deadlock

Germany 1-2 Denmark

Although not expected to do as well as previous years, not many people would've had Germany down to have been knocked out in the quarter-finals, especially after being in the side of the draw with lower ranked teams. Denmark overcame a 1-0 scoreline to finish as 2-1 winners courtesy of late drama.

The Germans got a dream start, leading 1-0 after just three minutes. Some nervous goalkeeping from Stina Petersen allowed Isabel Kerschowski's long range strike to end up in the back of the net.

Denmark put the first-half behind them and managed to make a valiant comeback in the latter 45 minutes.

Portland Thorns' Nadia Nadim's incredible jump allowed her to get her head to the ball before her marker, bringing the score to level pegging early in the second-half. It was another header that beat Almuth Schult for the underdogs to deny the holders of their seventh consecutive title - Theresa Nielsen hit home a powerful header in the 83rd minute.

It was an incredible victory for Denmark, with very few putting them down to reach this far. For Germany, the focus will be on rebuilding for future tournaments in an attempt to regain dominance in women's football, however, this task will be harder than ever with teams all over the world closing the gap on the world's best nations.

Player of the match: Theresa Nielsen (Denmark)

Austria (5) 0-0 (3) Spain

Debutants of the tournament, Austria, took Spain all the way to a penalty shoot-out after a scoreless 120 minutes, where they defeated them 5-3.

Spain, unsurprisingly, had the majority of possession in the 120 minutes of normal playing time and extra-time. However, much like in their previous two matches, failed to do anything with it, stringing some half chances together with no real threat.

Austria had some good opportunities on the counter-attack, with offsides and wayward shots preventing them from breaking the deadlock.

With an edge-of-your-seat atmosphere, the first penalty shootout of the tournament began. Six penalties in and every shot a goal, it appeared as though no side were going to crack. However, it was the Spanish that missed a penalty as Silvia Meseguer failed to get the ball past Manuela Zinsberger, and with Austria scoring five out five, the 24th ranked side granted themselves a place in the semi-finals.

Spain will be disappointed with how they performed in this competition, with the looming statistic of losing three games out of four. With absentees such as Verónica Boquete and Sonia Bermúdez, the question about whether Jorge Vilda made a vital error in his squad selection has been highlighted.

Player of the match: Laura Feiersinger (Austria)

Austria celebrate a missed penalty by Spain

England 1-0 France

England beat France for the first time since 1974, and first time competitively, in a narrow victory over Les Bleus on Sunday evening. Jodie Taylor is the front runner for the golden boot, adding her fifth goal to the competition.

An even start to the game saw both teams look bright and confident. As the first-half continued, it was the French that began to look sharper, but they failed to use their possession wisely enough.

The second-half was much like the first - France were the better side but luck wasn't on their side as they still couldn't find a breakthrough. Finally, the deadlock was broken in the 60th minute, with England managing to get a goal despite being the weaker side. Sarah Bouhaddi couldn't get a strong enough hand onto Taylor's shot from inside the box, granting England a place in the last four.

It was a frustrating match for France after dominating most of the proceedings. Like Germany, their focus will be on rebuilding for future tournaments, and trying to regain the gap that other teams have narrowed.

Player of the match: Amandine Henry (France)

Semi-finals

Both semi-finals will be played on Thursday 3 August.

Denmark vs Austria, 5pm, Channel 4/Eurosport

Netherlands vs England, 7:45pm, Channel 4/Eurosport

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