{"id":164143,"date":"2025-11-05T11:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/164143\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:41:11","slug":"dominik-szoboszlai-apologises-to-florian-wirtz-after-what-happened-vs-real-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/164143\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominik Szoboszlai apologises to Florian Wirtz after what happened vs Real Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool had to grind it out against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but they bagged a crucial 1-0 win to stay within touching distance of the top teams this season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given their recent dip in form, many had expected Liverpool<\/a> to struggle against a relentless Real Madrid<\/a> team that had already beaten Juventus and Barcelona in the last month, before hammering Valencia at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Arne Slot\u2019s<\/a> team failed to dominate possession at Anfield but still had plenty of chances in front of goal, and were able to limit Madrid to very little at the other end, too.<\/p>\n

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In the end, an impeccable Thibaut Courtois display<\/a> was broken down on the hour-mark, with Dominik Szoboszlai assisting Alexis Mac Allister for the winning goal. But, the former has praise for another Liverpool teammate.<\/p>\n

\"FlorianPhoto by Christian Kaspar-Bartke\/Getty ImagesDominik Szoboszlai raves about Florian Wirtz<\/p>\n

He may not have got on the scoresheet or registered an assist, but Szoboszlai was clearly very impressed with Liverpool new boy Florian Wirtz<\/a>, who put in a brilliant performance in the Champions League<\/a> clash.<\/p>\n

Speaking to CBS Golazo about the young German, Szoboszlai said: \u201cI have to mention Flo because he just kept on running, winning the balls, running back, having his chances, giving me almost an assist, so sorry from here as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He has a point, to be fair. Maybe Wirtz does deserve an apology after all. The 22-year-old was all over the pitch (as you can see from his heatmap) and in his 88 minutes he registered a whopping five key passes, created one big chance, and had an 86% pass success rate.<\/p>\n

Wirtz was also successful in both of his dribble attempts, won four ground duels, made six recoveries, one tackle, and one interception.<\/p>\n

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Wirtz\u2019s link-up play with Ekitike in particular was excellent<\/a>, too. All in all, it was a real statement performance from a player who has struggled at times in his first season with Liverpool. <\/p>\n

He put in the hard yards, did the dirty work, and was still able to exert his usual flair and influence higher up the pitch, too.<\/p>\n

Liverpool fans saw glimpses of Wirtz\u2019s quality<\/a> in recent weeks, but this could now be the real breakthrough moment he\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

\"DominikPhoto by Justin Setterfield \u2013 UEFA\/UEFA via Getty ImagesDominik Szoboszlai excels in more advanced role<\/p>\n

So far this season, we\u2019ve seen Szoboszlai play in his more natural, deeper role, fill in at right-back, and more recently, play a little higher up in a number 10 role.<\/p>\n

During this campaign, one thing has become clear: Dominik Szoboszlai excels wherever he plays. But, his performances as the advanced playmaker really have been a joy to behold, and this could well be Szoboszlai\u2019s best position now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d normally expect to see Mac Allister or even Wirtz thriving in that key role, but they have been shifted by Slot and, if last night is anything to go by, may have found their most suitable positions, too.<\/p>\n

Szoboszlai has the athleticism, vision, passing ability, and the spark to make things happen that any good number 10 needs. And this is the real beauty of this Liverpool side; they\u2019re a team so flexible and fluid that the top players Slot has at his disposal can interchange with one another and still be just as effective wherever they play.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now down to Slot to ensure he knows the best position and approach for his team as they look to get their season right back on track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool had to grind it out against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[9571,18,42799,19,17,1009,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-164143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-champions-league","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-florian-wirtz","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115496910392394158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}