Liverpool winger Cody Gakpo earned praise from BBC Sport pundit Pat Nevin for his efforts in Thursday’s Europa League trip to Sparta Prague.
Jurgen Klopp‘s Reds made relatively light work of the reigning Czech champions on their own patch for a commanding last-16 first-leg lead.
Gakpo played well for Liverpool in Prague, weighing in with several great opportunities, but sadly he wasn’t able to find the back of the net.
Late on in the first half, the £35million man had a good chance as he ran onto a through-ball, turned a defender and fired goalward.
Although Peter Vindahl was equal to it, Nevin liked how Gakpo didn’t go down after being pulled back, showing great perseverance to try and score.
“Most players would have gone down in Gakpo’s position there, he was being pulled back,” Nevin said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “But he wanted to score. Really good work from Gakpo.”
Mixed night for Cody Gakpo as Liverpool thrash Sparta Prague in Europa League
As per Sofascore, Gakpo registered three shots on target, saw one shot blocked, made two key passes, created one big chance, and won five ground duels and three aerial duels.
Goal.com gave him a 7 out of 10 rating and wrote: ‘Twice denied in the first half and again in the second, this time when one-on-one.
‘Needs to add a lethal touch to his excellent build-up play if he is to become a key player at Anfield.’
Gakpo also weighed in with two clearances, one interception and one tackle. So all in all, a decent display, even though he was unlucky not to join four of his teammates on the scoresheet.
Alexis Mac Allister got the scoring under way with a sixth-minute penalty before Darwin Nunez got himself a first-half brace for a 3-0 lead at the break.
Conor Bradley scored an own goal early on after the restart, but Luis Diaz restored Liverpool’s three-goal advantage in the 53rd minute.
Mohamed Salah came on in the latter stages of the game and though he had scored, only for VAR to rule the goal out for offside.
Nonetheless, Liverpool had the final say as fellow substitute Dominik Szoboszlai added a fifth for the Reds deep into injury time for a comprehensive first-leg lead.
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