Hungary boss Marco Rossi has clarified his comments about Arne Slot after he told the Liverpool boss “not to interfere” with regard to his plans for Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez.

Following Liverpool’s defeat to Brighton last weekend Slot urged international bosses to give his Reds stars a break.

He said: “Let’s hope that their national team coaches do understand that at Liverpool, a lot of players have played a lot of minutes.”

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With Hungarian pair Szoboszlai and Kerkez among Slot’s most important and overused players this term, Rossi suggested ahead of his side’s friendlies against Slovenia and Greece that the Dutchman should stay in his own lane.

“I have never spoken to Arne Slot personally,” he said. “Accordingly, I have never had a say in when the Liverpool head coach, for example, plays Dominik Szoboszlai as a defender.

“However, I would also expect him not to interfere in my work either.”

Those comments were not unreasonably interpreted by many as a dig at the Liverpool boss, but after their 1-0 win over Slovenia on Saturday, in which Kerkez played for 76 minutes and Szoboszlai for 87, Rossi insisted he’s a “nobody” compared to Slot, who has his “maximum respect”.

“I’ve read nonsense in the press. You can’t imagine that I would be so arrogant, conceited and stupid as to compare myself to a coach who manages a team in the Premier League,” said Rossi.

“I am not comparable to the Liverpool manager, I had no intention of that happening at all.

“Arne Slot said he hoped his players wouldn’t play two games. I saved Dominik Szoboszlai ten minutes and Milos Kerkez twenty.

“Slot is a coach of a top club. He deserves maximum respect. I am nobody. But since I am the head coach of the Hungarian national team, I think the Hungarian national team also deserves respect, at least because of its past. There is no dispute between us.”

Hungary have failed to qualify for the World Cup after the Republic of Ireland’s dramatic comeback victory in the qualifiers courtesy of a Troy Parrott hat-trick saw them finish third in their group, so Szoboszlai and Kerkez will at least have the summer off.

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