Ahead of the high-stakes Premier League clash between Arsenal and Liverpool in this round, Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai attended the pre-match press conference.
Q: Shall we start with the bigger picture? In 2025, you became a husband, a father, and a Premier League champion. I know there were also extremely tough and painful moments along the way. But do you feel that 2025 has given you a lot in life?A: Yes, absolutely. As you said, I became a husband, a father, and the first Hungarian to win the Premier League. It’s been absolutely amazing. Of course, there are still some goals I hope to achieve, but I have plenty of time ahead.
Q: How cool does that feel? I remember being at the Tottenham game that day. Being the first Hungarian to win the Premier League, coming from a country with such a rich football history—what does it mean to be the trailblazer?A: It feels incredible. Obviously, we have legends like Ferenc Puskás, who won almost everything, but he spent most of his career playing in La Liga. However, there are still so many things I want to accomplish in my football career, and I hope to make them happen.
Q: Alright, let’s talk about your “to-do list”. Name a few items on it.A: In the long run of my career… (laughs) It sounds like you’ve got it all planned out. I have a lot of goals. Well, long-term ones. Long-term. So, probably around my thirties, just like everyone else. Winning the Champions League. Qualifying for the next European Championship with the Hungarian national team, and the next World Cup as well.
Q: By the way, how tough was it missing out on this year’s World Cup?A: It was extremely tough. I’ve never felt that sad before. Not anger, but sadness—a deeper kind than I’ve ever experienced. Nothing like it before.
Q: Really?A: Yes. So, I owe the Hungarian fans a World Cup trip.
Q: Maybe this is a crazy question. Are you still in contention for this year’s Premier League title? Or is it too crazy to talk about it given the current points gap and form?A: It is crazy. Because if I think back to last year, I remember we were leading by 10 points around February. Back then, I kept telling myself ‘No, we haven’t won it yet, not yet’. But deep down, I thought ‘Alright, there’s a chance, there’s a chance’. Now, maybe because we’re trailing by quite a lot, we can’t look too far ahead. We have to take it one game at a time. Although we can talk about the title, we have to show it on the pitch—first, prove that we’re even capable of finishing in the top four game by game. But it’s only January. If things go our way from here, then why not?
Q: So, deep down, do you think that when you face Arsenal on Thursday, you’re up against the league champions this season?A: There’s still a long way to go in the Premier League. It’s not a competition you can win in January. So, I don’t think so. I don’t feel like we’re the ones facing the champions—it’s them facing the champions. They probably know that, and we know that too. Of course, they’re one of the favourites this year, an incredible team with outstanding players. But we shouldn’t forget about Manchester City either, and Aston Villa who have been performing really well. So no, we’re not playing against the champions; they’re the ones playing against the champions.
Q: That’s a great answer. Going back to what you said earlier—you’re the reigning champions, you won the league last season. I think everyone felt that, given your squad investments, you had a great summer transfer window. Obviously, you also lost some players. Why do you think it has become so tough since then?A: Sometimes these things just happen. I think last year, with the new manager coming in, and my first two seasons with Jürgen Klopp—we finished third in the first season, and honestly, no one really thought we had the slightest chance of winning the league last season. Then we got off to a great start, and we just thought ‘Alright, we’re doing well, let’s keep it up’, and we just kept going until we finally lifted the trophy.
If you ask anyone, they would never have thought we could win the league at the start of last season. So the odds were really slim, with Manchester City and Arsenal always competing against each other. But we did it. This season, we also had a good start—winning the first five games. Of course, luck was on our side too, because I can’t even count how many times we won in stoppage time, but it still showed that we were ready.
Then, sometimes you get a bit of a setback, and we didn’t react the way we should have, and then more setbacks followed. We saw this happen to Manchester City last season as well. So this is the time when we have to face reality, clarify what our main goal is, and that’s why we have to take it one game at a time—because we can’t afford to look too far ahead.
