Liverpool star hopeful of playing against Newcastle United after injury cost him Wembley appearance v Chelsea

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai is hoping to get the nod from manager Arne Slot for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United after he missed last year’s Wembley triumph against Chelsea due to injury.

The Hungarian international missed a period of action throughout January and February last season with a hamstring problem. He scored in the third-round win over Leicester City and in the quarter-final victory over West Ham United. However, he would miss both legs of the semi-final against Fulham and the final against Chelsea came too soon for him to get back to full fitness.

He would go on to make his return off the bench against Nottingham Forest at the start of March. He was one of several senior Liverpool players to miss the game with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold both ruled out. Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones were also out injured as the likes of Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns were all brought on following further injury concerns during the game.

Szoboszlai on final hopes

Speaking to the Liverpool club website, Szoboszlai said: “I had the opportunity to play [in the 2024 final] but I couldn’t because of my injury. Hopefully now I have the chance to play. That’s the decision of the coach but I’m ready to play. I waited until the end [to see] if I’m able to play or not [last year]. I wanted to. Also I had a little pain still but I wanted to play.

“But then we were thinking long term. So, it’s better not to risk it for one game and be out for even longer, so that’s why we decided not to play – [like] all the others in the final last year. But they did very well and hopefully this year as well.”

He added: “You never know who is going to play, but it doesn’t matter on our side who is playing in midfield – everybody is ready to fight and everybody is ready to give everything for the team. It’s a final, so you go in a different way into the game. But as I said, it doesn’t matter who is playing.

“The most important [thing] is that everybody’s goal is the same. I know it’s always easy to say if you’re playing to the guys who are not playing so much, ‘Yeah, just focus on the team because the team is the most important’, that’s true.”

Szoboszlai will surely start on Sunday

The 24-year-old started his Liverpool career in fine form but saw injury disrupt his early progress. He has been a key figure of Slot’s side this season, with only six players earning more minutes on the pitch in the Premier League. The Hungarian has scored five goals and provided three assists in the league while also netting once on the way to the Reds setting up a Wembley clash with Newcastle United.

It would come as a surprise to see the player benched. Speaking about how things have changed under Slot compared to Klopp, Szoboszlai said on the Liverpool club website last month: "It's different. Last year I was playing as an eight and I think more as a defensive part of the game than offensively. This time I am a little bit more offensively than defensively and I'm still doing the work for the defence part.

"He [Slot] changed my game a lot and I improved I think a lot under him because he was going in on a certain point that I was never thinking about to be improved. I still can improve for sure and I'm working on it every day."

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