Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool have faced criticism for their goal celebrations during the match against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with the Dutch forward potentially facing disciplinary action from the FA. Gakpo scored the third goal in Liverpool’s 5-1 victory over Spurs, which secured their title as Premier League champions this weekend, and he controversially removed his shirt to display a vest that read ‘I Belong to Jesus’.
According to Law 4 of the FA’s regulations: ‘Equipment must not feature any political, religious, or personal slogans, statements, or images.
Players are prohibited from revealing undergarments that display political, religious, or personal slogans, statements, or images, or advertising beyond the manufacturer’s logo.
Any violation may result in sanctions imposed on the player and/or the team by the competition organizer, national football association, or FIFA.’
It remains uncertain what consequences, if any, will be imposed on the Dutch player, who seemingly drew inspiration from Kaka, the legendary Brazilian midfielder who wore a similar vest with the same message during AC Milan’s victorious 2007 Champions League final against Liverpool.
Salah scored Liverpool’s fourth goal of a cathartic afternoon.
The Egyptian forward, who has marked many of his strikes this season with an archer celebration stolen from UFC fighter Alex Pereira, took a selfie with the Anfield crowd.
The prolific forward explained this change of tack after the match. “At the beginning of the season I always take selfies with players [who score], so for this one I said:
‘OK, I have to think of something special because it’s a picture that’s going to be there forever’,” he told BBC Sport.While Salah is hardly the first goalscorer to turn the camera on himself, eyebrows were raised by the equipment used.
Liverpool’s talisman grabbed a Google Pixel phone from a club employee positioned behind the goal, prompting some to speculate whether this was a piece of guerrilla marketing from the tech company which is one of the team’s sponsors.Even if it was a pre-planned collaboration with Google, there will be no punishment for Salah.