Liverpool players Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah faced criticism for their goal celebrations during the match against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Additionally, there’s a possibility that the Dutch player may receive a sanction from the FA.
Gakpo scored Liverpool’s third goal in their convincing 5-1 victory over Spurs, which secured their Premier League title this weekend. In his celebration, he removed his jersey to show a vest with the slogan ‘I Belong to Jesus’.
As per Law 4 of the FA’s regulations: “Equipment must not display any political, religious, or personal slogans, statements, or images. Players are prohibited from revealing undergarments featuring political, religious, or personal slogans, statements, images, or any advertisements other than the manufacturer’s logo.”
“For any offence the player and/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser, national football association or by FIFA.”
It remains to be seen what – if any – punishment is dished out to the Dutchman, who appeared to have taken inspiration from Kaka. The legendary Brazilian midfielder wore a vest with the same message in the same font while starring for AC Milan in a triumphant 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.
