Darwin Nunez received praise from Juergen Klopp after the disgruntled striker scored twice for 10-man Liverpool in a thrilling Premier League matchup against Newcastle United on Sunday. Liverpool had come from behind to defeat Newcastle United 2-1.
The 24-year-old Uruguayan hasn’t played much so far this season, but his late brace against the Magpies showed the best in him, and Klopp promised Sky Sports that he would receive more opportunities.
“He was obviously fired up about not playing, not starting, and he put all the energy into those two shots… it was a super-mature performance and two top-class goals,” a thrilled Klopp stated as he pondered on what he called one of the finest wins of his career.
After falling down in the first half and having their captain Virgil van Dijk sent for a foul on Alexander Isak, Liverpool seemed to be battening down the hatches when forward Luis Diaz was substituted by center defender Joe Gomez.
Nunez answered with two late goals to rescue win for the Reds from certain loss, increasing his prospects of receiving more playing time as a result of Klopp’s last-ditch gamble.
“Find steadiness now since the season is only getting started. There is no question that everyone will play once we discover the formation we need to produce success. We then play every three days.
“Unquestionably, when a striker scores two goals, you can see the joy on his face, and for good reason. But for the squad, it was crucial that they received something of that kind; you need these types of things to develop as a unit, said Klopp.
Newcastle will have to play catch-up in the league after suffering back-to-back 1-0 losses to Manchester City and Liverpool, and manager Eddie Howe acknowledged it would be difficult to motivate his players.
Howe told Sky Sports, “There was a lot of good, we should have ended the game, and that is probably the thing we are all hurting ourselves with.
There will be a great deal of feeling. We’ve played three incredibly difficult opening games, winning one and losing two. The two games we lost were against the top two clubs in the Premier League, and we lost by the thinnest of margins in each of them, he said.
(Toby Davis edited Philip O’Connor’s reporting.)