Hungarian international footballer Dominik Szoboszlai scored his first goal in the Premier League for his new team Liverpool after being signed on 30 June for €70 million from RB Leipzig. This was his fourth game in the league. While he contributed to two goals in the 3–1 victory against Bournemouth (the rebound of his shot was put away by Diogo Jota, and he also won a penalty that Mo Salah scored after another rebound), this was the first time he scored himself or made a direct assist.
Szoboaszlai gave Liverpool an early lead against Aston Villa. In the third minute of the game, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner was headed away by the Aston Villa defence, but Szoboszlai got to the ball first and shot first touch with his weaker, left foot—the ball hit the net at the far post after taking a couple bounces!
The goal was not without some controversy, however. Legendary retired Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was actually quite upset at Sky Sports’ studio in the post-game analysis, claiming that he does not understand why the goal was allowed to stand by referee Simon Hooper when he believes it was clearly offside. According to Schmeichel, Salah was in an illegal position, blocking Aston Villa goalkeeper (and recent World Cup winner with Argentina) Emiliano Martínez’s view. Former PL referee Dermot Gallagher was also on set, and confidently disagreed with the former Man United keeper.
Thankfully, the goal was allowed to stand on the pitch. Thus,
a Hungarian international player scored a goal in the English Premier League, the best domestic football league in the world by every metric, after over a decade.
Zoltán Gera was the last to do so on 22 December 2012; he found the net as a West Bromwich Albion player against Norwich City. Overall, Szoboszlai is the fourth player from Hungary to score a goal in the Premier League, after the aforementioned Gera, Ákos Buzsáky, and Tamás Priskin.
The 22-year-old Liverpool midfielder is now back with the Hungarian National Team, a side he captains.
They are preparing for an important European Championship qualifier against Serbia on Thursday night, 7 September. Serbia and Hungary are currently tied in points on top of the qualifying group after three games played each. The Hungarians are also facing the Czech Republic in an international friendly on Sunday, 10 September.
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