Liverpool’s Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai firmly rebuffed accusations that he had been taunting Republic of Ireland fans before his nation’s spectacular World Cup qualification collapse.
Hungary’s captain endured a roller coaster of emotions during Sunday’s dramatic clash with Ireland in Budapest. The hosts needed to avoid defeat to secure a spot in the World Cup playoffs and twice took the lead in the first half.
Szoboszlai celebrated Barnabás Varga making it 2–1 in the 37th minute by turning towards the touchline, placing his thumb on his nose and waggling his fingers in a mocking gesture typically reserved for school children.
Once an Ireland side inspired by former Tottenham Hotspur academy Troy Parrott had romped back to win 3–2, bumping Hungary down into third and taking the Green Army into the playoffs, Szoboszlai was crestfallen and quickly pilloried.
After swallowing a brunt of social media backlash deriding his actions as prematurely boastful, Szoboszlai promptly set the record straight.
“This is a joke between my own teammates, András Schäfer, Barnabás Varga and Péter Szappanos,” he told two days after the defeat. “If it was meant for the Irish, I would tell them.”
Liverpool’s all-action midfielder was more concerned with his side’s failure to qualify for the World Cup rather than any offence he may have unintentionally caused.
“It is still difficult to accept what happened,” he sighed, “but unfortunately we have to live with it and move on. There is certainly a reason why this always happens to us, but we try to take the positives out of the most difficult times. We had a chance until the end, we believed that we could make the playoffs.”
