Captain Virgil van Dijk said Netherlands would enjoy the moment after qualifying for Euro 2020.
The Dutch ended their self-inflicted exile from major tournament football, having failed to reach Euro 2016 or last year s World Cup, when a 0-0 draw away to Northern Ireland secured a top-two finish in Group C.
Netherlands were without the injured Memphis Depay and carried little threat up front in his absence, while Northern Ireland s Steven Davis missed a first-half penalty that would have ramped up pressure on Ronald Koeman s men.
But in the end the visitors secured the primary objective for the night the certainty they will be in next summer s 24-team European Championship.
Van Dijk, who won the Champions League with Liverpool last season, told Dutch broadcaster NOS: We re going to a tournament again. That s the most important thing.
We wanted to win today and we had chances. We knew it would be difficult but in the end we qualified how doesn t really matter very much.
In the last 15 minutes, Northern Ireland started to play more directly, hoping for free-kicks and corners. It was up to us to stay sharp and we did very well at times.
We are going to the European Championship, let s just enjoy it now. We will prepare ourselves well for that.
Euro 2020 here we come!
— Frenkie de Jong (@DeJongFrenkie21)
Northern Ireland can still qualify by the play-off route, while Netherlands appear likely to finish as group runners-up behind Germany, whom they trail by two points.
The Germans round off their qualifying campaign with a home clash against Northern Ireland next Tuesday, and on the same night Netherlands play host to Estonia.
