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Klopp Reacts As Darwin Nunez Scores 4 Goals In Liverpool Friendly

Published

2 years ago

Jul 22, 2022.

Benard Joseph

Klopp Reacts As Darwin Nunez Scores 4 Goals In Liverpool Friendly.
The Uruguay striker rediscovered his form at the Red Bull Arena on Thursday night, scoring four goals after coming off the bench…

EDITOR’S PICK

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp says Darwin Nunez delivered the ‘perfect’ response to his critics by scoring four goals in Liverpool’s pre-season friendly victory over RB Leipzig.

Nunez, who completed a £85m move from Benfica earlier this month, received criticism from some fans for his performances in Liverpool’s opening two friendlies against Manchester United and Crystal Palace.

The Uruguay striker rediscovered his form at the Red Bull Arena on Thursday night, scoring four goals after coming off the bench in a one-sided friendly against Leipzig.

‘The box of Pandora was opened for Darwin and then of course it was the perfect night for him,’ Klopp said after Liverpool’s 5-0 win in Germany.

‘We always think if you pay a lot of money then the players feel no pressure but they are completely normal human beings!

‘And then if the first touch isn’t perfect and this generation of player read social media, which is really not smart. But they do.
‘All of a sudden you get in a rush. But tonight is the best way to stop all of these discussions.

‘He’s a different striker to what we already have – but he’s a really good one.’
Nunez scored 34 goals in 41 appearances for Benfica last season and was the subject of interest from Manchester United before his move to Anfield was finalised.

Liverpool appear to be hitting their strides after a somewhat worrying 4-0 defeat to United last week, with Mohamed Salah also on the scoresheet against RB Leipzig.

Klopp added: ‘It’s really nice. You see everything tonight. First half – good moments, lesser-good moments, not enough movement, we need to get used to how hard it is to play 50, 60, 70 minutes – and in the end 90 or 120.

‘The human body is like this, you need to get used to it again. When we struggled a little bit it was always after three minutes’ break we played football again, then a deep breather and play football again.

‘We did that second half obviously. Hendo came on, Millie – they both were lively. Hendo all of a sudden as an eight, went in behind and we created chances.’

The Liverpool squad will now head to Austria for a training camp as they build up to the 2022-23 Premier League season, which starts on August 5.

Asked how much he was looking forward to the training camp, Klopp said: ‘Very much. We need that time now. We are not even close to where we want to be physically.
‘We have to get there. The weather and everything is difficult, it will be difficult in Austria as well. It’s good. We have to get through this, we have to work extremely hard and then we will be fine.

‘I’m not sure if we will be fine against Salzburg because now we really go for it, but we will give it a try. The most important part of pre-season starts now.’

FURTHER READING

Liverpool finished second in the Premier League last season – one point behind champions Manchester City – and begin the new campaign against newly-promoted Fulham.

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