Sports
DARWIN Nunez has “quality coming out of his ears”, says Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp after the player warmed up for Manchester City with two more goals.
Nunez’s double came in a 5-1 Europa League win over Sparta Prague.
The Uruguay forward has scored 16 club goals this season and provided a further 11 assists despite derogatory chants from opposition fans.
“He is not bothered by it and just keeps going,” added Klopp, who lost defender Ibrahima Konate to injury.
Leaders Liverpool host Manchester City, who are one point behind in second, at Anfield on Sunday (15:45 GMT) in a game of huge significance to the Premier League title race.
Nunez, 24, is enjoying one of his best spells in a Liverpool shirt with his two goals in Prague taking his tally to five in four games.
Klopp believes his £64m signing from Benfica in June 2022 is thriving before a crucial run of games, which also includes an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United on 17 March.
“He had absolutely more than an OK first season but he had to adapt, that’s done, and he is settled in the middle of the team,” added the German boss.
“He loves to play for this team together with these boys and has quality coming out of his ears, to be honest.
“Is he at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us. But can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes.”
Nunez is turning into a “world-class” forward, according to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.
“People have focused on a supposed lack of quality in his finishing, but his mentality was ignored and that is what has taken him to where he is,” he added on the BBC Euro Leagues podcast.
“He is not the Benfica player, he is becoming a world-class player.”
The only negative on an otherwise positive night for Liverpool in their last-16 first-leg tie was an injury scare to centre-back Konate, who was taken off as a precaution.
Klopp added: “Ibou said when he passed me in that moment, ‘I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad’. So he said he should be fine, but we don’t know.”
Liverpool also replaced fellow defender Joe Gomez at half-time with Conor Bradley, but Klopp allayed fears of an injury for the Englishman.
“Joey is fine,” he added. “We took him off, he played a lot of games so that was more rotation, precaution.”
BBC
8th March, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: Darwin Nunez Liverpool
