Friday was a busy day for Liverpool’s internationals, including a goal for Mo Salah and assist for Cody Gakpo as Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai faced off.
With over a week until the Reds are back in action, there were a number of stories to keep an eye on as the October international break continued on Friday.
That included a clash between Hungary and the Netherlands that saw four of Arne Slot‘s players start: Szoboszlai for the hosts and Gravenberch, Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk for the visitors.
Unfortunately, it ended early for Van Dijk as he was shown two yellow cards in the space of three minutes to earn a red card with 79 minutes played.
It came after a typically accomplished display from the captain, with FotMob showing that Van Dijk made the most touches (159) and completed the most passes (145/152) of any player on the night by far.
He will now depart the Netherlands’ training camp and is expected to report back for Liverpool duty early next week.
Hungary took an early lead through Roland Sallai, but were then pegged back as Gakpo laid on Xavi Simon’s equaliser for the 10-man Dutch.
Gakpo, who played 89 minutes on the left wing, created the most chances (five) and won the third-most duels (six) in another strong showing.
The midfield battle pitted Liverpool teammates against each other, with Gravenberch pulling off an outrageous turn to escape Szoboszlai in a moment that caught the eye on social media.
— @ChiesaLFC (@compsIfc) October 11, 2024
Both played the full 90 minutes in Budapest, with Hungary now set to play Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Netherlands facing Germany next on Monday night.
Elsewhere, there was a goal for Salah as Egypt coasted past Africa Cup of Nations qualifying opponents Mauritania with a 2-0 victory.
The 32-year-old capped a well-worked move started by midfielder Marwan Attia’s stunning through pass, tapping home from a ball across the box from Mohamed Hamdy.
Darwin Nunez was involved again for Uruguay after his five-match ban was suspended, but it came in a thankless performance up front as his country lost 1-0 to Peru.
Jarell Quansah and Tyler Morton both started as England U21s beat Ukraine 2-1, with the centre-back playing the full 90 minutes and midfielder lasting 78 minutes.
Young centre-back Carter Pinnington started and Trey Nyoni came off the bench as England U18s lost 2-0 to Sweden, while Calvin Ramsay played seven minutes off the bench as Scotland U21s also lost 2-0 to Belgium.
Keyrol Figueroa started for USA U19s in their 4-1 victory over Sweden, but Lewis Koumas and Owen Beck were both unused in Wales’ 2-2 draw with Iceland.
Finally, incoming signing Giorgi Mamardashvili played the full 90 minutes in goal as Georgia took on Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League, but was unable to keep a clean sheet as his side lost 1-0.
