He was awarded the captaincy of his country by manager Ronald Koeman on 22 March 2018, and his first match as captain was a 1–0 home friendly defeat by England the next day. On 26 March, he scored his first international goal to conclude a 3–0 win over European champions Portugal at the Stade de Genève. On 13 October, he scored in a 3–0 win over 2014 World Cup champions Germany in the UEFA Nations League. More importantly, he scored the equaliser in the next match with Germany, after assistant coach Dwight Lodeweges sent him a small paper note during a break, with the request to play forward in the last minutes of the game. The goal enabled the Netherlands to win the group phase of the Nations League. He later captained his country to the final which they lost 1–0 against Portugal.