Liverpool striker wants to recreate the 7-0 win over Man Utd

Dutch striker Cody Gakpo wants Liverpool to continue their 7-0 win over Man Utd in round 17 of the Premier League at Anfield today.

"I scored before half-time, and Darwin and I scored at the beginning of the second half," Gakpo told the British newspaper The Independent on December 16 when asked about last season's 7-0 win over Man Utd. "It was great for Liverpool to score so quickly after the break to kill the game. There were times when we didn't really look at the score, we just wanted to dominate and show our ability, and the whole team had a great game. Hopefully we can repeat that tomorrow."

Man Utd travelled to Anfield on 5 March 2023 in good form - winning eight and losing one in 11 games. That day, the two teams played evenly until Gakpo curled in a right-footed shot to open the scoring for the home team in the 43rd minute. Conceding two goals in a row in the second half left Man Utd in disarray and conceding four more goals in the remaining time.

Liverpool striker Cody Gakpo holds the ball against Raphael Varane during the 7-0 win over Man Utd in the Premier League at Anfield on March 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters

The 0-7 result was the Red Devils' biggest defeat in the history of participating in the English championship. This was also the fourth time Man Utd suffered a 0-7 defeat in the club's 145-year history, after the matches against Wolves in December 1931, Aston Villa in December 1930 and Blackburn Rovers in April 1926.

Ahead of the rematch at Anfield today, Man Utd are under a lot of pressure after losing 0-1 to Bayern at Old Trafford and finishing bottom of the Champions League, thus being eliminated from European Cups. The "Red Devils" have lost 12 of their last 24 matches in all competitions since the beginning of the season, were also eliminated from the League Cup and are currently sixth in the Premier League, ten points behind leaders Liverpool.

But Gakpo warned Liverpool not to be complacent. He said Man Utd are playing well in the Premier League, as shown by Erik ten Hag winning the best coach award and Harry Maguire winning the best player award for November.

"Obviously Man Utd have a lot of quality players, so we can't underestimate anything, no matter what stage they're at in terms of how they're performing," the Dutch striker said. "We can't take them lightly and have to play the right way. We have a lot of quality too and we have to keep showing that."

If Liverpool continue to tear through Man Utd today, they will set a milestone of scoring in 35 consecutive matches, breaking the record they set between April and December 2021. "We know we can score in every game and hope to maintain that," said Gakpo. "We need to go into the game with focus and aim for victory."

Liverpool have won all 11 of their home games in all competitions this season, scoring 35 and conceding just seven. In all competitions, Liverpool are also unbeaten at Anfield since losing 5-2 to Real in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals in February 2023. In the Premier League, the last time Liverpool lost at Anfield was a 2-1 loss to Leeds in October 2022. Since that defeat, Klopp's men have dropped just six points with 18 wins and three draws.

Liverpool have also been given a boost after a section of the stand was upgraded and the stadium will be able to accommodate 57,000 fans for the Man Utd game. This will be the biggest crowd at Anfield since April 1973, when 56,202 watched Bill Shankly's Liverpool draw 0-0 with Leicester.

While still playing for PSV, Gakpo was contacted by Man Utd at the end of the 2022 summer transfer window. However, the Old Trafford team only negotiated with PSV after recruiting Antony from Ajax for a fee of 100 million USD and did not have time to close the deal with Gakpo in the last week of the transfer window.

Half a year later, the Dutch striker joined Liverpool for a total fee of 60 million USD. In 46 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, Gakpo had 13 goals and five assists.

Hong Duy

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