Wednesday brought another disappointing result for Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai at Euro 2024.
Much had been expected of Hungary prior to the tournament, but after defeat to Germany they stand on the brink of a group stage exit.
Szoboszlai himself had been tipped to be one of the stars of the tournament by his manager, Marco Rossi.
But despite the Liverpool man making history as the youngest captain in European Championship history, Szoboszlai hasn’t had the impact he’d have liked.
In many ways, the 23-year-old’s form has been a continuation of a difficult end to the season at Anfield. And the Hungarian press have not been impressed.
Dominik Szoboszlai ‘far from his best’ for Hungary
Hungary had come into Euro 2024 in good form. Although they lost a warm-up friendly to Ireland – a game which drew criticism for Szoboszlai from his manager – they weren’t losing many besides.
With the Liverpool midfielder acting as the team’s fulcrum, they looked set to do well in Germany.
But their tournament got off to the worst possible start as they lost 3-1 to Switzerland on Saturday.
From there, a result against the hosts always looked like a big ask, and they fell to another defeat, this time 2-0 in Stuttgart on Wednesday.
Although there was no shame in losing to the Germans, it was still a disappointment for Hungary. And one outlet, Nemzeti Sport, didn’t hold back in their assessment of Szoboszlai.
Scoring the Liverpool No.8 a four out of ten, they claim that Szoboszlai’s passing accuracy of 85 per cent was ‘a bit low’ on the day.
It’s also suggested that the former RB Leipzig man ‘couldn’t have a significant impact on the attack,’ although he was supposedly unlucky to find Manuel Neuer in good form in the Germany goal.
Finally, the eventual assessment is that Szoboszlai was ‘far from his best’ as Hungary stand on the verge of elimination.
Early Hungary exit is better for Liverpool
Proud as he is of his country, this will be a big blow for Szoboszlai. Hungary looked like having a good chance of getting out of the group.
There is still a chance they can qualify as one of the best placed third position teams, but after Switzerland drew with Scotland they can no longer catch the top two.
While this will be a shame for Szoboszlai personally, it could really end up being good news for Liverpool.
We all want to see the Liverpool squad do well when going away into international football. But it’s also true that Szoboszlai looked spent by the end of his first season in England.
A good rest will surely be better for him than slugging away and eventually getting knocked out in the latter stages of the Euros.
Much more is needed from Szoboszlai in his second campaign at Anfield. Perhaps a longer rest will be one way of ensuring that happens.