Erling Haaland Makes Brutal Szoboszlai Joke During Liverpool vs Barnsley

Erling Haaland aimed a comical dig at his former RB Salzburg teammate Dominik Szoboszlai during Liverpool’s FA Cup third round victory over League One Barnsley.

On Monday (January 12), Arne Slot’s Liverpool progressed to the fourth round of the world’s oldest cup competition with a convincing 4-1 win over the Yorkshire club at Anfield.

Szoboszlai opened the scoring via a long-range strike in the ninth minute before Jeremie Frimpong doubled the Reds’ lead on 36 minutes.

However, the away side were given a glimmer of hope on 40 minutes when Adam Phillips smashed home following Szoboszlai’s error with the midfielder trying to backheel a ball across his own goal.

After the match, Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane described the Hungarian’s attempted backheel as “disrespectful” before Slot even dubbed the move as “weird”.

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“I was disappointed with our goal because he [Szoboszlai] doesn't do that against Chelsea or Arsenal," Hourihane told TNT Sports.

Then, when questioned on whether he felt the backheel was disrespectful, the Irishman added: "Yeah, potentially. I don't think he does that in a Premier League game or in a Champions League game, so I was a little bit disappointed with that. It was a bit of a lack of respect.

"Delighted for Adam, but disrespectful from their player's point of view."

In the second half, late strikes from Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike ensured Liverpool’s progression and maintained their current run of 11 games in all competitions without defeat.

And on a mixed evening for Szoboszlai, even his former RB Salzburg teammate and current Manchester City striker, Haaland, made a joke at the 25-year-old’s expense.

Posting on his Snapchat story, the Norway international took a photograph of his television, on which he was watching the Liverpool match, and accompanied the snap with the caption: “Domi, what a goal smile a bit.”

Haaland and Szoboszlai played together 19 times during their time at RB Salzburg and still boast a close friendship despite playing for rival Premier League clubs.

The Premier League champions will face fellow top-flight opposition in the fourth round as they were drawn against Brighton, who defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday (January 11).

Liverpool return to Premier League action at Anfield on Saturday (January 17), where they will face relegation-threatened Burnley.