‘I am not obliged…’ – National team coach hits back at Slot over recent remark from LFC boss
Hungary manager Marco Rossi has hit out at Arne Slot after the Liverpool head coach called for his players to be utilised sparingly by their respective national team bosses this week.
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The Reds have Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez in the Hungarian squad to take on Slovenia (this evening) and Greece (on Tuesday) in a pair of friendlies in Budapest, with their World Cup qualification hopes ended last autumn.
The LFC boss had pleaded with international managers not to deploy his players for 180 minutes of action for their countries, saying that they ‘need a break more than’ he does amid another hectic season competing on several fronts (Mail Sport).
Rossi hits out at Slot over game-time plea
Rossi didn’t take kindly to Slot’s not-so-subtle plea to ration the Hungary game-time for Szoboszlai and Kerkez this week, with a swipe at the Liverpool boss towards his occasional employment of the midfielder at right-back in recent months (and not for the first time).
The Italian said (via Mandiner): “Personally, I have never spoken to Slot, and I have never had any say in when and what decision he makes, when he will play Dominik as a full-back. I would expect him to treat me similarly. It is not just me who decides this; I am not obliged to play anyone.
“If Dominik said he would like to rest, of course I would allow him, but we know that he is the captain of this national team and the national jersey is his priority.
“If we had to save his energy, whether it was for him or anyone else, he could do it. However, for us, the national team is the priority. Now it is to play good games.”
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Hard to blame Slot for wanting Liverpool players not to be flogged
Whilst it’s Rossi’s prerogative to manage his Hungary squad as he sees fit, we fully understand Slot’s pleas for his players not to be excessively flogged over the international break, especially for non-competitive fixtures.
Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s standout performer in a terrible season for the Reds, so imagine how livid our head coach would be if the 25-year-old were to pick up an injury this week which’d rule him out of the run-in to the campaign for his club.
Such has been the midfielder’s importance at Anfield in 2025/26 that only Virgil van Dijk has played more minutes for LFC than the Hungarian’s 3,848, while Kerkez has also been a first-team mainstay with 39 appearances clocked up so far this term (Transfermarkt).
Just as Rossi took umbrage with Slot’s comments about players’ game-time, we suspect that the Liverpool boss wasn’t too impressed with his Hungary counterpart when he said last month that Szoboszlai’s ‘dream’ is to play for Real Madrid.
We can only hope that every Reds player who lines out for their country over the next few days returns to Merseyside unscathed, so that we have as full a squad as possible for six crucial games in April, starting with the FA Cup quarter-final away to Manchester City.
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