Fabrizio Romano has said that one Liverpool player is ‘on fire’ after he maintained his impressive form on the international stage over the weekend.
Netherlands’ 4-0 win over Hungary in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday was overshadowed by a frightening incident which saw Hungarian coach Adam Szalai taken to hospital following a medical emergency during the match (The Athletic).
Play resumed after a 15-minute stoppage as the necessary treatment was administered to the 36-year-old, whose condition has thankfully stabilised, and the second of the Oranje’s four goals was scored by Cody Gakpo with a penalty in first half stoppage time.
Romano praises Gakpo as scoring streak continues
Romano was posting updates on the action via X, and he reserved praise for the Liverpool attacker, pointing to a statistic which highlights the Dutchman’s recent hot streak.
The transfer guru posted: “Cody Gakpo scores on penalty and makes it 5 goals in the last 5 games for club and country. On fire.”
Cody Gakpo scores on penalty and makes it 5 goals in the last 5 games for club and country.
On fire. pic.twitter.com/VD1nutTThc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 16, 2024
Gakpo has indeed been ‘on fire’ despite sparsity of starts
As Romano correctly pointed out, Gakpo now has five goals in as many games, having netted twice in our Carabao Cup win over Brighton in late October and followed that up by scoring against the Seagulls again three days later, and against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
The 25-year-old has only started three Premier League matches this season and was back on the bench for the victory over Aston Villa last weekend despite scoring four times in his previous three games, with Luis Diaz’s hat-trick over Xabi Alonso’s side giving Arne Slot two hugely in-form left wingers from which to choose.
The Reds’ number 18 had a largely impressive outing against Hungary on Saturday. As per Sofascore, he struck the post in addition to the penalty that he converted, had another shot on target and executed a team-high four key passes in Amsterdam.
Gakpo will hope to keep his hot streak going when Netherlands visit Bosnia-Herzegovina (who lost 7-0 to Germany last night) on Tuesday, having now scored five times in his last 11 caps for his country.
Another goal or two in that game could see him start for Liverpool away to Southampton next weekend, with the Dutchman scoring on his one previous visit to St Mary’s (the 4-4 draw on the final day of the 2022/23 Premier League).
It says a lot about the strength that the Reds have in attack that not even a run of five goals in five games for the 25-year-old can guarantee him a starting berth at the moment.
