netting a goal and providing a helping hand in the Dutch

With his 3-0 triumph over Romania, Cody Gakpo achieved even more historic moments in both his professional and national football careers.

In the Dutch team’s 3-0 victory over Romania in the Euro 2024 round of 16, Cody Gakpo turned up a standout performance. In addition to helping his club reach the quarterfinals with a goal and an assist in this game, Gakpo also achieved a number of noteworthy firsts for both Dutch football history and his own career.

Gakpo scored a spectacular goal to demonstrate his abilities. With deft technique, he got past two Romanian defenders and fired a hard shot that custodian Florian Nita was unable to stop. Gakpo has scored twice in this year’s tournament: once in the group stage against Poland and again in the 3-2 loss to Austria. This is his third goal overall.

With this accomplishment, he joins the elite group of Dutch players, including Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Georginio Wijnaldum, who have all scored three goals in a single Euro.

Not content to just score goals, Gakpo demonstrated his outstanding creative skills as well. He skillfully passed the ball to Donyell Malen in the 83rd minute of play, who scored with ease to give the Netherlands a 2-0 lead.

Gakpo is now the top scorer in the Euro 2024 competition with three goals and one assist in four games. In terms of goals, he and Jamal Musiala of Germany are tied, but he has one more assist. Due to its creation, Gakpo enjoys an advantage over the competition for the Golden Boot.

Players from Liverpool performed with aggression, launching numerous counterattacks that put the Romanian goal in danger. Image sourced from Getty Images.

This is an incredible accomplishment, particularly in light of the fact that players like Georges Mikautadze of Georgia and Ivan Schranz of Slovakia also scored three goals but lost their teams’ tournaments.

Detailed data show that Gakpo’s performance against Romania was even more spectacular. He had 29 touches, 17 accurate passes (59%), two major opportunity creations, and three on-target shots in 84 minutes on the pitch. Gakpo demonstrated outstanding dribbling abilities as well, making two successful dribbles on each occasion.

Fans and experts alike praised Gakpo’s incredible performance. He received the highest score of the match—9.2—from SofaScore. In addition, the 25-year-old striker received the vote for Best Player of the Match, which is a commendable honour given his abilities and efforts.  In addition to building on his three-goal World Cup performance, Gakpo’s outstanding performance at Euro 2024 also demonstrates his growth as a member of the national team. In addition to providing an inspiration to the team’s younger players, he is steadily solidifying his place as one of the key foundations of the Dutch assault.  The Netherlands’ victory over Romania has sent them to the Euro 2024 quarterfinals, where they will play the victor of Austria vs Turkey. Gakpo will undoubtedly continue to be a key component of the Dutch team’s strategy for the forthcoming expedition. In addition, his outstanding performance in this competition bodes well for his club career at Liverpool the following season.