Liverpool, England – Liverpool’s Hungarian defender Dominik Szoboszlai has denied any rift with teammates Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas over the captain’s armband. He asserted that the incident during the friendly match against Wrexham had been blown out of proportion by the media.
Liverpool’s friendly against Wrexham a week ago, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Reds, was marred by controversy after Szoboszlai handed the captain’s armband to Kostas Tsimikas. Tsimikas then passed it on to Curtis Jones after the Hungarian left the pitch. Jones had previously expressed his displeasure. Tsimikas also threw the armband to the ground after the final whistle.
In the following friendly against Leeds United, Szoboszlai immediately handed the captain’s armband back to Curtis Jones. This move put an end to the controversy surrounding the incident.
“There was no disagreement between the three of us,” Soboslay told the BBC. “We only discussed something on the pitch, but the media greatly exaggerated what happened”.
He added: “Next time we will talk inside the locker room. Neither of us was angry with the other, and everything is fine”.
Regarding the possibility of him taking over as vice-captain, he explained: “This matter has not been discussed. We have a captain, which is Virgil van Dijk, and there are also Alisson Becker and Joe Gomez. Alisson is currently unavailable, Gomez is injured, and wearing the captain’s armband was a proud moment for me, and we will see what happens”.
He continued: “I am not the one who makes the decision, and nothing has been decided yet. If this position is offered to me, I will accept it with pride, but I respect all my colleagues, and we will support any player who takes on this responsibility”.
Szoboszlai concluded his remarks by emphasizing the team’s readiness for the new season, saying: “We have a great motivation after last season, because it was not at the level we aspired to, and we will try to do better. As for new signings, that is not my responsibility, and if the club and the coach decide to bring in new players, we will welcome them, and if that does not happen, we will strive to achieve something special with the current group”.
