Cody Gakpo follows Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk records career first

Cody Gakpo is clearly a man for the big stage having equalled a record only previously set by Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.

The Dutch striker found the back of the net in the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over Poland on Sunday afternoon, with substitute Wout Weghorst bagging the winner late on.

In doing so, Gakpo extended an impressive run that has seen him score in each of the Netherlands’ last four group games at the European Championship and World Cup.

This makes him the third European player this century to achieve that feat, behind Portugal’s Ronaldo and Spain forward Morata.

Facing Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar at the 2022 World Cup, Gakpo scored one goal in each game as he helped his nation to top spot in Group A.

Having helped the Netherlands to a win against Poland, he’ll be hoping to guide his country into the knockout stage of Euro 2024.

But Gakpo wasn’t the only Dutch player to break a record against Poland in Hamburg.

Virgil van Dijk was captain for the Netherlands in their 2-1 and quite remarkably, earned his first ever win at a European Championship at the age of 32.

The Liverpool skipper was making his first appearance at a European Championship with the Netherlands failing to qualify for Euro 2016.

While the Dutch did make it to Euro 2020, Van Dijk missed the tournament as a result of a cruciate ligament injury – a tournament that saw the Netherlands eliminated in the last-16.

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With fixtures against France and Austria coming up, Ronald Koeman‘s side will be delighted to have three points already on the board as the compete in one of Euro 2024’s toughest groups.

The Oranje play against France on Friday night, a match you can listen to live on talkSPORT, kick-off 8pm.