Liverpool’s winners & losers from March international break
Liverpool players were on international duty across the world this month, with the bulk involved in friendly games but the final Euro 2024 qualifiers also going on.
For plenty, it was a positive experience, either with milestone achievements, long-awaited resurgence or just good results. But a few others won’t look back on these games with fond memories.
Here are the biggest winners and losers in the Liverpool squad during the March international break.
Conor Bradley has been established with Northern Ireland longer than he has with Liverpool, but enjoyed an international milestone this month with his first goal. It was the only goal of an impressive victory over a Scotland side that qualified strongly for Euro 2024.
„I’m over the moon. I’ve been dreaming for quite a while about scoring my first international goal,“ he said afterwards. „I don’t think in any of my dreams it was that good a goal but I’m buzzing.“
Once upon a time, it looked as though Joe Gomez was destined to be an England regular for years to come. But injuries have ravaged his career and it has taken a long time to get back to this point.
Recalled to the squad for the first time in three and a half years, the Liverpool defender came off the bench against Brazil and then started against Belgium. If there is ever a time to play your way into a national team squad, it’s in the months before a major tournament.
Andrew Robertson’s first international appearances since dislocating his shoulder in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Spain in October didn’t go well. His Scotland lost twice in their friendlies, heavily against the Netherlands and then against Northern Ireland.
The left-back didn’t finish the latter game because of an ankle injury. It could rule him out of the Brighton game at the weekend, but shouldn’t cause any more problems than that.
Luis Diaz contributed to back-to-back Colombia wins over Spain and Romania, with the South American nation now unbeaten in more than two years since February 2022.
He assisted the only goal in the victory against Spain, while the game was also special because it was the first time the Liverpool winger had captained his country. Diaz didn’t retain the armband for the Romania game but did play over an hour of that game too.
Mohamed Salah has missed a number of games since a hamstring injury prematurely ended his Africa Cup of Nations campaign in January. So when he asked not to be included in Egypt’s squad for a friendly tournament in UAE, that was the best outcome for both him and Liverpool.
Being fully fit and well rested is going to be vital for the final stretch of the season.
On paper, Greece should have booked their place at Euro 2024 this month. The 2004 champions would have been licking their lips when drawn into a qualifying play-off semi-final with Kazakhstan, followed by a final against Georgia, ranked nearly 30 places lower in the world standings by FIFA.
Kostas Tsimikas played every minute of both games. But while the semi-final against Kazakhstan was comfortably 5-0, it was 0-0 over 120 minutes against Georgia, who then won on penalties.
Dominik Szoboszlai has now had eight direct goal involvements (five goals, three assists) in his last five Hungary appearances stretching back to October. What’s more, the national team is unbeaten in 14 games since the Liverpool midfielder was handed the captaincy in November 2022.
This month, Szoboszlai scored the only goal in the victory against Turkey and another in the 2-0 win over Kosovo. He hasn’t even missed a minute for his country since March last year.