Dominik Szoboszlai fired Liverpool into the lead against Barnsley \u2014 and did it in breathtaking fashion.<\/p>\n
The Hungarian midfielder has arguably been Liverpool\u2019s standout performer this season, and he carried that sparkling form straight into the FA Cup tie.<\/p>\n
Just nine minutes in, Anfield erupted. Picking up the ball almost 30 yards from goal, Szoboszlai took one calm touch to steady himself before thundering a sensational strike goalwards. The shot screamed off his boot with pace and accuracy, leaving the Barnsley goalkeeper rooted as it soared into the top-left corner.<\/p>\n
It was a goal that instantly evoked memories of Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard \u2014 fittingly, the very man whose iconic number 8 shirt Szoboszlai now wears with pride.<\/p>\n
Watch the goal below.<\/p>\n
The heir to the number 8: echoes of Gerrard<\/p>\n
For many Reds, Szoboszlai represents the closest Liverpool have come to a true Steven Gerrard successor since 2015.<\/p>\n
The parallels are hard to ignore: tireless energy, the ability to turn defence into attack with one decisive pass, and a knack for delivering spectacular goals when the moment demands it. Even Gerrard himself has acknowledged the resemblance, recently naming Szoboszlai as the current Liverpool player who reminds him most of his own style.<\/p>\n
With 11 goals already in all competitions this season, Szoboszlai is doing more than just wearing the famous number 8 \u2014 he is beginning to define a new chapter in its legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dominik Szoboszlai fired Liverpool into the lead against Barnsley \u2014 and did it in breathtaking fashion. The Hungarian midfielder has arguably been Liverpool\u2019s standout performer this season, and he carried that sparkling form straight into the FA Cup tie. Just nine minutes in, Anfield erupted. Picking up the ball almost 30 yards from goal, Szoboszlai …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image_2026-01-13_013118294.jpg.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57532,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57530\/revisions\/57532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}