27 February 2024 , 12:04
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Dominik Szoboszlai said that he had “a lot of disagreements” with Liverpool ’s medical team over whether he was fit enough to play in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final win against Chelsea.
The midfielder has been sidelined with a hamstring strain since the Reds’ league win over Chelsea in late January - with Jurgen Klopp's side facing a worrying injury crisis.
He is nearing a return and was pushing to be included at the weekend but having been ruled for the extra-time win at Wembley, Szoboszlai told Hungarian TV: "They [Liverpool’s medical department] are careful with me. If it would be up to me I would play [against Chelsea]. I hate it. I hate not playing. I had a lot of disagreements with the doctors."
Forwards Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah were also described as “last minute decisions” before the game but none of the three were even fit enough to take their place on the substitutes’ bench.
And with goalkeeper Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones all long-term injured, Jurgen Klopp had to trust in a number of inexperienced academy products to shock Chelsea’s billion-pound squad.
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Liverpool finished the game with five players 21 or younger with Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns and Jarell Quansah coming off the bench. As a result Klopp hailed the triumph as his most special trophy.
“I loved it,” he said. “What we saw today was so exceptional, it might not happen again. Not because I’m on the sidelines, but because these things don’t happen in football.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp with Dominik Szoboszlai. (Paul Greenwood/REX/Shutterstock)“I got told outside that there’s an English phrase, ‘you don’t win trophies with kids’. I didn’t know that. In my more than 20 years, it’s easily the most special trophy I’ve ever won. It’s absolutely exceptional. Tonight there is an overwhelming feeling of ‘oh my god, what’s going on?’
“I was proud of everybody involved in everything here. I was proud of our people for the way they have pushed us, for creating this kind of atmosphere, where these boys can just do what they’re best at. I’m proud of my coaches, proud of my academy. It has nothing to do with this maybe being my last game at Wembley.
“Seeing the faces of the kids, Jayden Danns. Can you create this in football stories, which definitely nobody will ever forget? It’s so difficult. This tonight, if you find the same story with academy players coming on against a top, top side and still winning it, I’ve never heard of it.”
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