Liverpool Secure Merseyside Derby Victory, Jurgen Klopp Surprised by Dominik Szoboszlai

Liverpool secured their first Merseyside derby victory of the season with a 2-0 win over Everton at Anfield. Goals from Mo Salah were enough to secure the three points for the Reds, and manager Jurgen Klopp revealed how Dominik Szoboszlai left him surprised before kickoff.

Klopp’s Pre-Match Surprise

Klopp fielded three Merseyside derby debutants in his starting lineup, and shortly before kickoff, he discovered that one of those, Szoboszlai, was playing in his first derby altogether.

“[It was a] difficult game,” Klopp told reporters. “Even before the first whistle, it’s always like I don’t know 100 percent how we will be ready for that. When we had the finishing [drill] before, the warmup, Dom told me ‘I’ve actually never played a derby before’. [I said], ‘what do you mean?’. [He told me], ‘Salzburg doesn’t have a derby, Leipzig doesn’t have a derby, Hungary maybe has a derby but the countries who would be a derby we never played since I’ve played international football’. [I replied], ‘OK, good, no problem, you always give 100 percent, so you are ready for the game’. So you don’t know exactly what it is, and I liked what I saw.”

Szoboszlai’s Impressive Performance

Szoboszlai was clearly not affected by the occasion, ending with the third-most touches of any player with 107, behind only Trent Alexander-Arnold (118) and Virgil van Dijk (114), as well as the most shots (five) and chances created (four), per FotMob.

It was not the first high-profile clash of his career, and in his own post-match interview, the 22-year-old showed his confidence.

“Probably I’m mostly with Trent,” he told TNT Sports. “I asked him how it’s going to be, but everybody in the staff said it’s going to be really good. I just came out and [we] took the three points.”

Conclusion

Liverpool’s victory over Everton was a much-needed boost after dropping points against both Tottenham and Brighton in frustrating circumstances. Jurgen Klopp was pleasantly surprised by Dominik Szoboszlai’s performance in his first Merseyside derby, and the Hungarian midfielder showed his confidence in the post-match interview. Liverpool will now look to build on this victory as they aim to secure Champions League football for next season.