Patrick Kluivert was the toast of Holland after he cracked four goals for the hosts in a 6-1 demolition of Yugoslavia in their Euro 2000 quarter-final clash at Rotterdam's De Kuip stadium.

The Barcelona star became the first man in European Championship history to score four goals in a game as Frank Rijkaard's side waltzed into a semi-final place against Italy in Amsterdam on Thursday.

And how Dino Zoff's side must be worried about the prospect of facing the rampant hosts who made easy meat of opposition widely expected to test them to the limit.

Kluivert's goals, and two late strikes from Marc Overmars, were right out of the top drawer and the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Edgar Davids showed their best form as the hosts begin to peak for the latter stages of the tournament.

Rijkaard opted to keep faith with Paul Bosvelt and Arthur Numan, the full-back pairing which played in the group win over France. Edwin van der Sar returned in goal in place of Sander Westerveld.

Vujadin Boskov's hand was forced by the suspension of Slavisa Jokanovic and injury to Goran Djorovic with Dejan Govedarica, scorer against Spain, and Nisa Saveljic earning starting places.

Both sides made a cagey start in a rerun of their second-round encounter at France 98, a bad-tempered affair the Dutch edged 2-1 in Toulouse.

The first chance of the match fell to Bergkamp but the striker blasted his shot against Sinisa Mihajlovic after a fine lay-off from his Arsenal team-mate Marc Overmars on three minutes.

Mihajlovic's free-kick on 11 minutes forced van der Sar to tip the ball away from the oncoming Komljenovic.

The match then came alive with the two best chances of the half within a minute.

Savo Milosevic jinked brilliantly past Bosvelt and laid the ball square to Predrag Mijatovic but the Fiorentina man struck straight at van der Sar from near the penalty spot.

Then a minute later, Bergkamp broke down the left and cut inside and tried to curl it past Kralj but the Yugoslavia keeper lunged it clear.

Bergkamp then did well to carve himself another chance but scuffed his shot and Kralj was able to save on 20 minutes then Davids fired over from 18 yards when he should have done better.

Kluivert broke the deadlock after an inch-perfect pass from Bergkamp. He found the Barcelona man with a beautifully flighted pass from wide on the left and Kluivert controlled with his first touch and prodded past Kralj with his second to send the stadium into raptures.

Mihajlovic pressed van der Sar into action with a 30-yard free-kick and Numan ended a fine run with a driven left-foot shot to force a save from Kralj as the game started to open up.

Kluivert then doubled the lead after another exquisite piece of skill from Davids. He floated the ball over the Yugoslav back line, Kluivert controlled and pushed it underneath the advancing Kralj on 38 minutes.

Holland then came out after the break in electrifying fashion. A superb run don the right from Bosvelt ended with a driven cross which was slammed home first time by the delirious Kluivert.

He then made it four after a fine break from Zenden on the left, the ball fell fortunately for the wing-back and he cut it across to his Barcelona team-mate whose first time shot squeezed inside Kralj's far post.

Kluivert was replaced to rapturous applause by Roy Makaay on the hour. And the match runed into something of a practice as Westerveld replaced van der Sar.

Overmars added a fifth when he collected the ball on the edge of the box and volleyed past Kralj.

The Arsenal man added a sixth to seal off a memorable day for the Dutch.

Savo Milosevic added a late consolation for Boskov's team to make it his fifth of the tournament, one behind the jubilant Kluivert.