Dominik Szoboszlai has revealed that his impressive first Liverpool goal was something he had practiced (unsuccessfully) in training.
The Hungarian is known for his ability to hit a ball sweetly from range and let rip after just three minutes of play at Anfield on Sunday, lashing home on the bounce at the edge of the 18-yard box after a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner to set the Reds on the path to a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa.
It was an accomplished all-round performance from the £60m summer signing from RB Leipzig, who was Liverpool’s highest-rated player by Anfield Watch.
Speaking after the game, Jurgen Klopp called Szoboszlai a ‘machine’, while calling the goal: “The cleanest strike I saw for a long time.”
Szoboszlai admitted that, while the strike for his first-ever goal at Anfield couldn’t have worked out better, things hadn’t gone as smoothly on the training ground.
“I’m really happy to score my first goal at Anfield. I think I couldn’t even wish [for] better,” he said, via Liverpoolfc.com. “To be honest, I said it before, we practised sometimes in the training and I think two weeks ago I had two situations after each other [and] I shoot the ball 50 metres over the goal.
“Today I was concentrating even more to hit the ball good and to hit the goal. It worked.”
The 22-year-old midfielder was also complimentary of his teammates, praising the contributions of Joel Matip and Joe Gomez, who kept a clean sheet in the absence of captain Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
“We have a really good squad, to be honest,” Szoboszlai said. “Joel started today really good, played until the end. Joey as well fought all the balls.
“We need these kind of players. We need everybody healthy because if something happens then you need to be ready.
“We should be calm, we should work hard – as we did until now – and everything is going to come.”
