Netherlands 3 Italy 0: World champions humbled by Dutch

Defeat Italy can endure. Humiliation on this scale, they will find harder to take. The world champions were swept away last night by Marco van Basten's Dutch team and finally we can say that Euro 2008 has begun in earnest with a game adorned by one bizarre refereeing decision, a fabulous goal and a shock to the biggest reputation on the continent.

The big question at full-time was whether the Andrea Pirlo generation of Italian football has finally reached the end of the road just as Euro 2008 is really getting going. The other pressing concern was why the Swedish referee Peter Frojdfeldt allowed Ruud van Nistelrooy's 25th minute goal to stand when the former Manchester United striker was at least three yards offside. As Italy stewed, Van Basten's team took care of business and served up a performance that won the game without the help of the officials.

Their second goal was glorious, a box-to-box marvel finished off by Wesley Sneijder that said if this Netherlands team can keep their tempers with one another long enough, they might just win this tournament. Italy? They looked like England in November 2007: cautious, tired and unimaginative. And their centre-forward Luca Toni made Dean Ashton's unsteady recent international debut look like a masterclass in comparison. With France drawing with Romania, Group C has become a dangerous place for Italy.

Donadoni refused to blame the defeat on the Swedish officials but he held them responsible for the first goal which was so far offside even Van Nistelrooy glanced disbelievingly at linesman Stefan Wittberg. From close range, the Real Madrid striker had turned in Sneijder's shot after the Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had clawed away a free-kick crossed from the right wing. The only explanation for the referee's decision was that Christian Panucci, who had collided with Buffon seconds earlier and was off the pitch, was adjudged to be playing Van Nistelrooy onside.

By the letter of the law – Fifa rule 11.11 – a player must ask for permission to leave pitch and can be judged active and in play if he does not. That was not an eventuality Panucci had evidently considered as he nursed whatever injury was dealt to him by his goalkeeper, oblivious to what was going on around him. "I'm not going to talk about the referee," Donadoni said. "You saw it. Make up your own mind. I don't know how Panucci ended up off the pitch. But we should have remedied it, we cannot find justification for defeat in that goal."

Donadoni knew that there was no point arguing with a Dutch performance that inflicted the heaviest tournament defeat on Italy since they lost 4-1 to Brazil in the 1970 World Cup final. He admitted his team had been "defensively too naïve" and that they had "started badly and got worse" but this day belonged to the Netherlands. In what amounted to an apology to the Italian nation, Donadoni said: "None of us are happy to lose this game 3-0, as a team we understand what are fans are feeling and we feel as sorry as they do."

In Sneijder, the Netherlands had the game's outstanding performer, the man himself described this match as "the perfect game". By the time Giovanni van Bronckhorst headed in the third Dutch goal it was difficult to argue with him. As well as Rafael van der Vaart and Van Nistelrooy there were towering performances from Orlando Engelaar and Nigel de Jong. Donadoni brought on Alessandro Del Piero in response who, at 33, was not the answer to the Dutch pace and energy.

On 18 minutes, Van Nistelrooy had ignored the chance to win a penalty by trying to stay on his feet when Buffon clipped his ankles in the act of scoring. It was a wholly uncharacteristic act for a striker who during his time at Old Trafford needed little more encouragement to go down than a stiff breeze off the Salford Quays. Six minutes after his goal, the Netherlands' second was a thing of beauty. It began in the Dutch penalty area when Van Nistelrooy's back-header was cleared.

From there Van der Vaart carried the ball upfield, the obvious pass was to the breaking Sneijder but instead he picked out Van Bronckhorst on the left. The full-back charged forward and crossed to Dirk Kuyt whose header down was driven in by Sneijder. The move lasted seconds and Italy never recovered.

Italy should have conceded a third when Van Nistelrooy outpaced the hopelessly slow Marco Materazzi to reach Van der Vaart's pass but the Real Madrid striker failed to get his shot past Buffon. Van der Vaart played like a man desperate to move away from the Bundesliga – he is – and on these kind of performances he should get his wish. Less so the profligate Toni who might have had trouble hitting the rear-end of any one of the cows that dot the Swiss landscape with the proverbial stringed instrument.

With Antonio Cassano and Del Piero both on the pitch, Toni missed two in the later stages, the first well over the bar, the second stopped by Edwin Van der Sar. The Manchester United goalkeeper did even better to keep out Pirlo's free-kick and from there the Dutch scored their third. Kuyt had a chance to score but when his shot was saved, he recycled the ball to Van Bronckhorst who headed down past Buffon via Gianluca Zambrotta.

"Always look on the bright side of life" was the song from Dutch supporters. The slightly less effusive Van Basten showed a glimpse of the emotion he bottles up so tightly by saying that "on the day you beat the world champions you can have happy dreams". A more grandstanding Dutch coach would have said that the future is orange – on this evidence it is certainly not Azzurri.

Netherlands (4-2-3-1): Van Der Sar (Manchester United); Boulahrouz (Hamburg), Ooijer (Blackburn), Mathijsen (Hamburg), Van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord); De Jong (Hamburg), Engelaar (Twente); Kuyt (Liverpool) Van Der Vaart (Hamburg), Sneijder (Real Madrid); Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid). Substitutes: Van Persie (Arsenal) for Van Nistelrooy, 71; Heitinga (Ajax) for Boulahrouz, 75; Kuyt (PSV), for Afellay, 80.

Italy (4-3-2-1): Buffon (Juventus); Zambrotta (Milan), Barzagli (Palermo), Materazzi (Internazionale), Panucci (Roma); Gattuso (Milan), Pirlo (Milan), Ambrosini (Milan); Camoranesi (Juventus), Di Natale (Udinese); Toni (Bayern Munich). Substitutes: Grosso (Lyons), for Panucci, 50; Del Piero (Juventus), for Di Natale, 65); Cassano (Sampdoria) for Camoranesi, 74.

Referee: P Frojdfeldt (Sweden)

Booked: Netherlands De Jong; Italy Toni, Zambrotta

Man of the match: Sneijder.

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