Perhaps the most ominous aspect for Irish football was that Dominik Szoboszlai had done it before – and for Hungary. Last Sunday as all watched with admiration or envy as Szoboszlai’s free-kick whip-cracked its way into the top corner of Arsenal’s Kop-front net at Anfield, Hungarians were instantly taken back to an equivalent dead-ball strike from the same man in Budapest against Bulgaria 2½ years ago. Indeed, it was as impressive.
Then, as some revelled in that goal against Bulgaria, others recalled one before. It was again for Hungary, scored against Turkey. While it took a helpful deflection, it was another 25-yard-ish free-kick that flew into the net off a post at unstoppable speed.
The point was made: Dominik Szoboszlai, who once said Cristiano Ronaldo was “my idol” growing up, is an expert ball-striker. So it’s best when playing against him not to concede free-kicks close to your own box. Or even 32 yards out.
Easier said than done of course.
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It is just 15 months since Hungary and Szoboszlai came to Dublin and his impact in a 2-1 game sealed by Troy Parrott’s 90th-minute winner was not memorable. But that was Szoboszlai’s 54th match for club and country that season and was a warm-up for Euro 2024 in Germany. With a major tournament on his mind, he may well have paced himself through a friendly.
Today, in terms of its place in Szoboszlai’s annual calendar and career, is different. This will be his fifth game of the season. His physical fitness is not in question and, as Hungary’s captain at the start of a World Cup qualifying campaign, nor is his motivation. Then there is his confidence, which should be so great you could see it from Achill Island.
Because this has been a Gout Gout of a start to Szoboszlai’s season. The 24-year-old, 25 next month, is sprinting towards his prime.
We inhabit a football environment of such minute-by-minute relentlessness that, unless you are a Liverpool fan, as Szoboszlai’s free-kick against Arsenal was digested it was easy to forget this was Szoboszlai’s second slice of match-winning magic in two games.
The first, six days before, had come at St James’ Park against Newcastle. There, amid the most intense Premier League contest we have seen for some time, the midfielder temping at right-back appeared in the home 18-yard box – in the 100th minute – to confirm Szoboszlai’s extraordinary athletic capacity as well as his positional versatility. And, as we were about to see, his football imagination.
Szoboszlai was not in the Newcastle area just to show he could be. He produced a step-over that wrong-footed Newcastle’s defence, flat-footed goalkeeper Nick Pope and left the 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha footloose at the far post. Ngumoha’s first-time finish was exceptional, but without Szoboszlai’s canny dummy the goal would not have been possible. It was composed, artistic excellence in the loudest, most demanding of workplaces.
Some said, critically, that any footballer of note would have done the same – as Darwin Nunez did in Liverpool’s preseason friendly at Preston. But the tension of the circumstances at St James’ made Szoboszlai’s contribution worthy of neutrals’ applause.
What next? This is the issue for Heimir Hallgrímsson. In a third consecutive match can Szoboszlai be denied a hat-trick of special deliveries?
Where will Szoboszlai be on the pitch? It’s a place to begin. Will he be one of the four in Hungary’s usual 3-4-2-1 formation or, as he more often is, one of the two? Will Liverpool’s effective No 2 be Hungary’s No 10?
Given Szoboszlai bears comparison with Steven Gerrard and filling a role vacated by Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool – Conor Bradley was on the bench against Arsenal – the versatility already mentioned will be seen again.
Twenty years ago, during the showbiz Eriksson-era England, a question often asked of opposing players was: ‘Stop Beckham, stop England?’ It was not totally illogical, but it helpfully also fitted the celebrity agenda of the time. It feels as if there’s a bit of that with Szoboszlai, and he doesn’t have a Gerrard or Frank Lampard or Paul Scholes alongside. If Josh Cullen or whoever can even limit Szoboszlai, Hungary as a team will be inhibited. There cannot be the freedom of Dublin 4 a Declan Rice or Jack Grealish enjoyed not so long ago.
Theory and practice: teams used to approach Liverpool with thoughts of curtailing Gerrard. He tended to run all over those plans.
Lest we forget, Gerrard pushed his way into Liverpool’s first XI at right-back and then into midfield, while Alexander-Arnold, one of Szoboszlai’s closest friends at Anfield, showed a modern full-back can influence games in a manner previous versions did not. It does not mean, however, that Szoboszlai will be delighted to start Liverpool games there. He wears Gerrard’s No 8 shirt, after all.
The number might have added weight since Gerrard, but Szoboszlai has not been affected since his £60 million (€69 million) transfer from Leipzig in the summer of 2023. He was 22 then – he does seem older than 24 – and was deemed sufficiently important to Liverpool’s future the club are said to have agreed to pay the entire fee in 12 months. That might have been a clinching factor because as Newcastle’s Eddie Howe said at the time: “Captain of his country from a young age; yeah, certainly one we liked.”
Instead Liverpool benefited. Their midfield was in transition – summer 2023 was when Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all left. Szoboszlai arrived beside Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo.
At 22, Szoboszlai could have been daunted, but he settled immediately. Leipzig had been preceded by three years with Salzburg in Austria, his first destination outside Hungary. He grew up an hour from Budapest, his father Zsolt was a professional and his personal coach.
In England Szoboszlai became a Cheshire neighbour of his former Salzburg team-mate Erling Haaland and quickly impressed at Liverpool’s training ground. Steve McManaman is still a presence there as an Academy mentor and, referring to his first few days at Real Madrid, McManaman said that first summer: “It’s in preseason when questions are asked: ‘How fit is he?’, ‘What’s he like?’ You have to win over the players straight away. I am in the Academy at Liverpool so I know people are impressed by Dominik Szoboszlai.”
McManaman added “because he’s fit”, but it was also because Szoboszlai fitted in.
Last season Szoboszlai played in all but two league games as Liverpool won the title. He’s not stopped.
So, unfortunately, there’s a lot to like about Dominik Szoboszlai. But he is not a team and hat-tricks, they don’t come easy.
