- Cody Gakpo scored and provided an assist during his team’s 3-0 victory over Romania
- The Netherlands will now face Turkey in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024
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Rafael van der Vaart has showered some rare praise on Liverpool star Cody Gakpo, claiming the Dutch winger could make “defenders shit their pants”.
This came after the Liverpool star impressed during the Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Romania on Tuesday night.
The win allowed Ronald Koeman’s side to prepare for a quarter-final clash against Turkey, with the 25-year-old scoring and setting up Donyell Malen with an assist in the second half.
His first-half goal, a stunning low shot that beat Romanian goalkeeper Florin Nita at the near post, puts him joint-top of the Euro 2024 scoring charts alongside Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze and Ivan Schranz.
Gakpo was later named Man of the Match following his excellent performance, with many fans taking to social media to praise the Dutchman.
Rafael van der Vaart has offered rare praise to Dutch star Cody Gakpo (pictured)
Gakpo (right) scored and provided an assist to help his team seal a 3-0 victory over Romania.
Van Der Vaart (pictured) said that “there are not many players like Gakpo who can make defenders shit themselves”
Van der Vaart was also impressed by his performance and praised his compatriot with a rare statement.
“There aren’t many players who can receive the ball and make a defender shit his pants,” he was quoted as saying. Anfield area.
“Gakpo is one of them,” added the former Real Madrid star.
Impressively, Gakpo has now scored 12 goals in 28 appearances for his national team, with the Dutch star also scoring three times at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking about his team’s performance on Tuesday, Gakpo said: ‘We played a good match and showed a great reaction from the last one and we are very satisfied.
“I agree, after the last game we needed a reaction and today we took a good step in the right direction,” Gakpo said. “We talked a lot about aggression and intensity and defending as a team and today we took a good step again and we are very happy to have won and played a good game.”
Gakpo notably celebrated his first-half goal with the team’s physiotherapist and the Dutch star revealed why after the match.
The Dutch star was named Man of the Match after his excellent performance
Gakpo (right) now shares the top spot in the Euro 2024 scoring charts with three goals so far in Germany
‘Yesterday he (the physiotherapist) told me that I was going to score the first goal today. I told him: “If I do it, then I will come to see you.”
On the performance, he added: “Yes, I think it was the sacrifice in the performance and the very hard work by everyone to do the best possible and I am happy to have been able to assist Donny with the goal; good game in general.”
