A number of Liverpool stars were in action for their countries on Sunday with mixed results in the Nations League
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Arda Gueler of Turkey gestures to Dominik Szoboszlai of Hungary during the UEFA Nations League match at the Puskas Arena on March 23, 2025 in Budapest
(Image: David Balogh/Getty Images)
It was a night to forget for the majority of Liverpool’s internationals on Sunday as they enjoyed UEFA Nations League disappointment. Six of Arne Slot’s senior stars were in action for their respective countries across the quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs.
Dominik Szoboszlai made headlines after clashing with Real Madrid star Arda Guler as Hungary did battle Turkey. Guler scored his nation’s second goal on the night at the Puskas Arena in Budapest as the Hungarians fell to a 3-0 loss and 6-1 aggregate defeat to suffer relegation to League B.
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Guler celebrated with a shush celebration aimed at Szoboszlai, but the Liverpool man fired back after the final whistle. Responding to an Instagram post featuring a picture of him being shushed by his Real Madrid counterpart, the Hungary captain wrote ‘1088’.
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That is the exact amount of minutes Guler has featured for the La Liga giants this season having found himself on the fringes of Carlo Ancelotti’s side, starting just seven times in the league and Champions League.
Elsewhere, Slot was given a headache as captain Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota were all taken to extra-time in the quarter-finals - less than two weeks after their gruelling penalty shoot-out defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Van Dijk completed the full 120 minutes and scored the Netherlands’ first penalty in their shoot-out to Spain after the second leg finished 3-3 draw extra-time and therefore a 5-5 stalemate on aggregate. Such a sight will perhaps leave supporters wondering why the Dutchman did not step up in Liverpool’s loss to PSG, as Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones misses sealed a premature elimination.
However, it wasn’t enough for the Dutch as they lost 5-4 on penalties with Spain progressing to the semi-finals at their expense.
The Dutch media were impressed with Van Dijk’s performance at least, despite the Netherlands shipping three goals.
VL rated Van Dijk’s display at a match-high 8/10, while AD handed him a 7.5/10 rating as they praised his captain-like performance: “
They wrote: “The captain took responsibility and successfully took care of the first penalty in the series. Van Dijk played a good match in Valencia. Especially when the Dutch team played deep in the Spaniards’ half, he was constantly the man who neutralized the long ball from the European champions. Perhaps he could have defended the goal line at Oyarzabal’s 2-1 when [Bart] Verbruggen managed to stop the Spaniard’s first attempt, although he would have had to act very quickly.”
Football Oranje also rated Van Dijk at 7.5/10, writing of his performance: “A very captain-like performance from Van Dijk, who led the team well from the back. The defence was open at times but Van Dijk dealt with a number of situations well.”
De Telegraaf were also impressed with Van Dijk’s performance against Spain, with the Dutch paper lauding the Liverpool star for his ‘beautiful’ role in creating chances for the Netherlands out from the back.
Gakpo also started for the Netherlands but was withdrawn after 77 minutes.
Jota came on as a 62nd minute substitute for Portugal in place of Rafael Leao as they won 5-2 against Denmark after extra-time to overturn a 1-0 first-leg loss. The forward claimed an assist, too, setting up his nation’s fifth goal for Goncalo Ramos. Portugal will now face Germany in the semi-finals in June.
Meanwhile, Spain will face Ibrahima Konate’s France after they overturned a 2-0 first-leg defeat to progress thanks to a penalty shoot-out win over Croatia. However, the Liverpool defender was left as an unused substitute.
While he was withdrawn at half-time with a knock in their first leg 2-0 loss to Croatia, the decision to leave him out was suggested to be tactical.
Elsewhere, Andy Robertson was blamed by the media for Scotland’s embarrassing 3-0 defeat at home to Greece. The Scots had won 1-0 away in Piraeus, but fell to a 3-0 loss in Glasgow to suffer relegation to League B.
Greece's first and second goals both came down the Reds full-back’s flank. He was unable to close down Georgios Vagiannidis to cut out his cross for Giannis Konstantelias' opener, while 17-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas dragged him out of position before producing a curled finish to double their lead.
The Herald handed Robertson a 4/10 in its player ratings as they wrote: "Pre-match, Greece wonderkid Karetsas suggested he could trouble Robertson, unfortunately for Scotland, the 17-year-old was right. Robertson was locked into a defensive role and unable to race forward and cause problems in the opposite direction. Raced to shut down free man Konstantelias but left Karetsas free to slam home second for Greece."
Robertson was handed a 5/10 by both The Edinburgh Evening News and The Scotsman, with the latter saying of his performance: "Offered an outlet on the left when Scotland went forward, but was poor in stopping the cross that led to the opening goal and left Karetsas for the all-important second."
Meanwhile, The Guardian described Robertson as "one of umpteen Scotland players who endured an awful evening".
Again blaming the Liverpool man for two of the Greek’s goals, they wrote: "Greece forged ahead on aggregate three minutes before the break. Karetsas endorsed his star quality with a curling finish after Konstantelias flicked the ball into his path. Andy Robertson had been drawn towards the ball in leaving Karetsas totally unmarked."
Kostas Tsimikas was an unused substitute for Greece as they won promotion at Scotland’s expense.
Elsewhere, Caoimhin Kelleher started for the Republic of Ireland as they beat Bulgaria 2-1 to win 4-2 on aggregate and avoid relegation to League C.
A number of Reds star will also be in action on Monday night, with Jarell Quansah included in Thomas Tuchel's squad to face Latvia. He had been left out of the matchday squad that beat Albania along with Morgan Gibbs-White, but both players have been included at the expense of Tino Livramento and the injured Anthony Gordon.
Meanwhile, a number of Liverpool youngsters were in action for their countries on Saturday. Josh Sonni-Lambie marked his full debut for England Under-18s with a goal as they drew 2-2 with France.
Trent Kone-Doherty and Rio Ngumoha started for Republic of Ireland Under-19s and England Under-17s as they drew 1-1 and won 3-2 against Slovenia respectively.
And Keyrol Figueroa started for USA Under-20s as they won 3-0 against Mexico.