Ben Doak was nervous.
The pre-match tension had set in ahead of Scotland’s clash with Croatia in the Nations League, the Liverpool youngster admitting he had“butterflies” in his stomach ahead of his third start for his country.
But out on the grass he flicked a switch and turned in the sort of barnstorming performance that gets you noticed. Manchester City’s star defender Josko Gvardiol will certainly remember Doak, having been given a night to forget by a player who only turned 19 on Monday.
“I don’t see faces on the park, I just see a kit and a blank face,” he told reporters at Hampden Park after Scotland’s 1-0 win, when he was reminded of Gvardiol’s standing and what he had just done to him. “I don’t take notice of reputations. I just believe that if I’m good enough to be on the pitch then I should be up to whoever I’m against.”
Such a strong mindset is serving Doak well. Having signed for Liverpool from Celtic in March 2022 for a compensation fee of around £600,000, the Ayrshire-born winger’s progress was stalled last December when he underwent knee surgery.
There have been smaller setbacks since then, including being forced to withdraw from Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad in June through injury, but a season-long loan to Middlesbrough gave him the chance to find his groove.
Sure enough, the last two games have yielded three assists in two emphatic wins against Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town, and now he has announced himself on the international stage, playing a key role in John McGinn’s match-winning goal on Friday and being granted a standing ovation as he was substituted off in stoppage time.
Doak is always a box of tricks but there was one moment, midway through the first half, that left Gvardiol especially red-faced.
On the halfway line and with his back to goal, Doak planted his orange boots into the turf, crouched into a squat position to protect the ball, and backed into the City’s £77million man (€90m at current rates). With one flick of his left foot, the ball rolled through the defender’s legs and Doak wriggled out of a challenge and into free space, away from the despairing Gvardiol.
There was a little more to Doak’s performance than just flicks and tricks, though. The tussle between him and Gvardiol started early and initially it was the defender who came out on top. A surge of excitement from the crowd followed Doak’s first chance to run at the backline but he was a little tentative in his attacking to begin with. The spectacular skill came later.
After a couple of exchanges — including two opportunities where Gvardiol got forward to good effect — Doak began to test his resolve in reply. The flick and cheeky nutmeg on 17 minutes lifted his confidence. “When I went past him early in the first half I didn’t realise it had gone through his legs, I just flicked it and hoped it’d come out the other side, which it did,” Doak said after the match. “We were unfortunate not to score from that one, but it was another moment I enjoyed.”
Doak was undeniably helped by Croatia being reduced to 10 men just before the break as Peter Sucic picked up a second yellow card, a decision which meant spaces began to open up and Scotland began to prioritise attacks down Doak’s right-hand flank, despite his tender years.
It was actually a tackle late in the second half — when Doak tracked back superbly to take the ball off Gvardiol — that precipitated Doak’s best period of the game.
In the build-up to McGinn’s goal, Doak tested Gvardiol on three occasions in three minutes. First, you can see him run at the defender, twist and turn but ultimately retreat as he cannot get past him.
Then, a minute later, Doak attempts the same direct run but this time beats Gvardiol and forces a save out of goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski.
Then, on 85 minutes, Doak finally broke Croatia’s resolve. After again beating an exhausted Gvardiol, he sends a shot at goal that is spilled by Kotarski and McGinn pounces to smash in the winner.
It was the sort of performance that is quickly pounced on by social media aggregators, never slow to point out when an elite defender is embarrassed by a tyro, and sure enough it was soon trending on X on Friday night.
Liverpool already know all about Doak’s considerable talent. They gave him a new long-term contract in September 2023 and were keen to see how quickly he could kick on at Middlesbrough this season, either to increase his sell-on value or see whether there’s a chance he can break into the first team in the future.
He has started eight Championship games and come on in two more, and this display was another good sign.
For Gvardiol, it turned into one of those occasions where an immediate return to club football would have been more beneficial than sticking around for another international fixture (in his case, Portugal on Monday).
If manager Zlatko Dalic is big into debriefing games then this weekend will not have been enjoyable for the Manchester City defender. Perhaps the bigger issue was whether Croatia had even prepared for Doak? If not, they should have done. Pacy, purposeful and at his care-free best, he was a threat all game.
In the short term, Doak’s attention turns to Monday’s trip to Poland. But the winger has proved he has a bright future — whether at Liverpool or elsewhere.
(Top photo: Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
