Perhaps the most illuminating information about the latest attraction of the Bundesliga, the Hungarian striker Dominik Szoboszlai, was provided by a fellow sufferer named Benjamin Henrichs. The German international had sat with Szoboszlai more often in the stands of the Leipzig stadium since the beginning of the year, both were injured more often after their arrival at their employer RB Leipzig, Szoboszlai more than half a year. And so Henrichs learned that Szoboszlai is subject to a Pavlovian reflex.
Every time a player was 30 meters away from the opposing goal, Szoboszlai always shouted the same thing. “Just shoot! Shoot !!”, revealed Henrichs at half time at DAZN. Just as he, Szoboszlai, would have done in situations like this. Or like he did on Friday evening when he handed in his business card in the Bundesliga. He contributed two impressive goals to RB Leipzig’s 4-0 win against VfB Stuttgart (38th / 52nd), and it was not easy to determine which of the two goals was the better. “You can’t have a better home debut,” said Szoboszlai, and his coach Jesse Marsch was also satisfied after his first win as Leipzig coach: “It was a great reaction after our defeat in Mainz.”
Perfect posture: Dominik Szoboszlai’s unique selling point is his dangerous shots.
(Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa)
You could leave it that way, there was no contradiction from his compatriot Pellegrino Matarazzo. “We were shown our limits,” he summed up after the first US coaching duel in Bundesliga history, “Leipzig was superior to us in all respects.” Indeed: There were a few defensive wobbles, but otherwise the pressing of the Leipzigers worked as planned, the action took place almost exclusively in half of the guests, where the newly structured Leipzig offensive felt what the Americans call “joy”, Joy.
“It’s fun, you can see that”, said playmaker Emil Forsberg, who didn’t deserve special praise from Marsch because he completed a combination of ten stations fifteen seconds after the break and scored 2-0 after a magical sales kick from André Silva as the ultimate pass. But because in the 64th minute he gave way to this new colleague named Silva when the Leipzigers were awarded a rather questionable penalty. By renouncing the Swede, the new colleague was able to “find a goal and really get into our team”, as Marsch explained, “that says everything about Emil”. From a perspective, this generosity is of the utmost importance. “If we have this group mentality, our possibilities are very, very great,” emphasized Marsch. But everything was overshadowed by Szoboszlai’s outstanding goals.
There is something insane about Szoboszlai’s shot, but it hits the target as desired
He had already drawn attention to himself in Hungary and Austria with a sensational shooting technique, and with a blatant lack of fear of making mistakes. He’ll try it if the situation allows, he formulated his motto with overwhelming logic: “If he goes in, he goes in, and if not, then not.” On Friday evening he came out as a ballistics master in Germany.
At 1-0 he caught a tired break from the Stuttgart defense. After testing, he discarded the option to hit a cross (“there was no cross in the middle”) – and instead withdrew as soon as he had crossed the right edge of the box. There was something crazy about it, but the ball flew spectacularly as requested next to the so-called second post. Szoboszlai’s second goal came from a dormant ball. He announced an “English ball” for Willi Orban – and because neither friend nor enemy got in the way and VfB goalkeeper Florian Müller took a step in the wrong direction, the fantastic undercut ball flew like pulled on the cord next to the second post into the net. “He has a lot of quality and self-confidence,” reported Marsch, who had already trained Szoboszlai at his previous station in Salzburg. Marsch therefore also knows that there is “still room for improvement” in Hungary. After his seven-month injury break, he is “not yet at one hundred percent”.
Meanwhile, the Stuttgarters were extremely disillusioned. Not only because the bankruptcy relativized the 5-1 win against the Fürth from the first day of the game. But because the substitute Austrian striker Sasa Kalajdzic injured himself badly in the last scene of the game. After an aerial duel, he fell to the ground and dislocated his shoulder; That alone would cause several weeks of downtime, and it wasn’t easy to tell whether tapes were damaged. The recent mishap hits Stuttgart at a sore point, the week before another striker, Mo Sankoh, injured his knee so badly that he will probably be out for the entire season. Stuttgart may be forced to become active in the transfer market, a conversation about this question with manager Sven Mislintat should follow, said Matarazzo.
The Stuttgart coach looked a bit worn out after the 0: 4, because of Kalajdzic’s injury and probably also because he believed his team would continue. The Stuttgart were not completely without a chance, in the first half they left a few counter-chances. Ultimately, however, Leipzig’s superiority was overwhelming. You went into the game knowing that an opponent would roll towards you from a collar width that you haven’t had this summer, said Matarazzo, “but it makes a difference whether you say something like that – or feel it” like on the instructive Friday evening. “If we compete against such a caliber again, we will know what to expect.”