Arda Guler has amplified the war of words between himself and Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.
The pair have become embroiled in a public disagreement following Turkey’s 6-1 win aggregate over Hungary in the current international break, that saw the latter relegated to the second tier of the Nations League. Turkey, on the other hand, took the Hungarian’s place in the top division.
The second-leg defeat at home was particularly bruising as Hungary was beaten 3-0, with Szoboszlai at fault for the second goal, when he lost possession in the build up to Guler’s strike. The Real Madrid and Liverpool stars clashed during the game, with the former clearly telling Szoboszlai to be quiet as he put his fingers to his lips.
That was picked up by Hungarian news outlet, Nemzeti Sport, who posted a photo of the incident on its Instagram page. Szoboszlai then commented ‘1088’ beneath, clearly a dig at the number of minutes Guler has played for Real this season.
The 20-year-old has started just six La Liga matches and none since December, while Szoboszlai has missed just two league games all season for Liverpool.
But the insult clearly irked Guler, who posted a picture of the on-field argument on his Instagram story along with the caption: “This guy is a joke. Isn’t six goals enough to shut you up?” That was accompanied by the shush emoji. The image was photoshopped to show: “Szoboszlai 1 Instagram comment” on the Hungary side of the scoreboard.
We await to see if there’s any further development from the bad-tempered affair, but with the international matches drawing to a close and focus turning back to the club game, that could be the end of the spat.
Meanwhile, Szoboszlai, the Hungary captain, has called for unity in the aftermath of the 3-0 loss. “Now the [team] needs to pull itself together a bit, everyone, myself included, and come up with something for the summer that will take us forward and help us in the World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
“I can’t exactly articulate what it is, but the team needs stability so that everyone knows what their job is, to fight for every ball and not come out of the duels as losers. And then luck will be on our side.”
Hungary is next in action when in plays Sweden and Azerbaijan in friendlies in June, before its World Cup qualifiers start in June.
