‘He Should’ve Kept That in the Dressing Room’ — Szoboszlai’s Response to Salah Sparks Frenzy as Liverpool’s ‘Internal Rift’ Becomes Public Drama

The fracture that Liverpool fans prayed was only gossip has now been broadcast in neon lights.

It took just nine words from Dominik Szoboszlai, captured on a hot mic as he walked off the St James’ Park pitch last Sunday, to turn simmering tension into open warfare. With cameras still rolling and Salah ten metres ahead refusing to acknowledge anyone, the Hungarian midfielder was caught muttering into his collar: “If you’ve got a problem, say it inside, brother.”

The clip, initially buried in the chaos of a 3-3 draw at Newcastle, needed less than twelve hours to reach twenty million views. Someone enhanced the audio, slowed it down, added subtitles in seven languages, and by Monday morning #SzoboVsSalah was the top trending topic worldwide. What made the remark lethal was not volume (Szoboszlai barely raised his voice) but context. Everyone knew exactly which “problem” he meant.

Salah’s post-match interview that night had been a hand grenade. Asked why he looked so furious despite scoring twice off the bench, he replied: “Ask the people who promised me things in the summer and then put me on the bench three games running.” The words were measured, almost weary, but the target was unmistakable: the manager, the board, and by extension any teammate who had stayed silent while the club’s greatest goalscorer was publicly diminished.

Szoboszlai’s leaked retort was the first time any current squad member had answered back in public. And it stung because Dominik, of all people, was meant to be Salah’s loudest champion inside the dressing room. The two share the same agent, the same relentless work ethic, the same habit of staying behind after training to practise free-kicks. When Szoboszlai joined in 2023, Salah personally organised a welcome dinner at his Formby home and gifted him a signed shirt with the message “Welcome to the family, little bro.” Fans still circulate the photo of them laughing together over shisha, arms slung around each other like actual siblings.

That image now feels like ancient history.

Sources inside Melwood say the rift ignited three weeks earlier, after the home defeat to Nottingham Forest. Salah, substituted with twenty minutes left, reportedly told the coaching staff in the tunnel that “some players are hiding when it matters.” Szoboszlai, who had endured a difficult afternoon, took it personally. Words were exchanged in the corridor beneath the Main Stand, loud enough for kit men to hear. Staff described it as “two proud men refusing to blink.” Arne Slot is said to have separated them, but the damage was done.

Since then the pair have barely spoken. Training sessions have become a study in cold geometry: Szoboszlai drifts left when Salah moves right, passes go through three teammates rather than directly, and the once-automatic chest-bump celebration after goals has vanished. Most painfully for supporters, the Hungarian no longer waits behind to applaud Salah when he finally leaves the pitch after his trademark lap and prayers.

The fanbase has split down the middle. One half brands Szoboszlai “disrespectful” and “out of his depth,” pointing out that Salah has carried Liverpool through seasons when the midfield (including Dominik) was anonymous. The other half defends the 24-year-old’s right to call out public laundry-airing, arguing that dressing-room codes still matter even when you’re hurting.

By Wednesday evening the situation had escalated further. Salah posted a black-and-white training photograph with the empty pitch at dusk, captioned only with an hourglass emoji. Szoboszlai responded two hours later with a story of his own: a close-up of the Liverpool crest on his chest and the words “Some things are bigger than individuals.” Neither tagged the other, but the message was deafening.

Club captains past and present (Henderson, Milner, even Gerrard) have reportedly reached out privately, urging peace before Saturday’s visit of Brighton. Arne Slot, facing the press on Friday, refused to be drawn beyond a terse “We solve things internally, always.” Yet with Salah’s parents already in the city amid separate farewell rumours of a farewell, and with Szoboszlai’s words now impossible to unsay, the fear is growing that the fracture may be permanent.

Liverpool once prided itself on never letting daylight in on dressing-room magic. This week, the curtains have been torn down, and the whole world is watching the pieces fall.