Gakpo complains about Salah's "monopoly" on penalties at Liverpool

The Dutchman Cody Gakpo, Liverpool's forward, expressed his frustration at not having the opportunity to take penalties with his English team, due to the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah exclusively taking on this responsibility.

Gakpo's comments came after his impressive performance with the Netherlands national team against Malta in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where he scored two goals from penalties and assisted a third in a 4-0 victory, becoming the first Dutch player to achieve this feat since Rob Rensenbrink in 1978.

Gakpo said after the match: "In the national team, I usually go to take penalties when Memphis Depay is not present, and the decision is made in consultation with my teammates. But at Liverpool, I am not allowed to take them, as it is Mohamed Salah's responsibility."

The Dutch forward pointed out his confidence in his abilities, reminding that he has missed only one penalty in his career with PSV Eindhoven against Copenhagen in 2022, while his success rate is 88.9% (9 goals from 10 attempts), compared to Salah's rate of 83.1% (54 goals from 65 penalties).

For his part, Salah had revealed in a previous interview with Liverpool's channel how he became the first-choice penalty taker after James Milner in 2018, explaining that he requested to take a penalty against Huddersfield to equal Harry Kane's tally in the top scorers' race at the time, and since then he has been the team's first option.