Jurgen Klopp's immediate reaction spoke volumes after Nunez ended goal drought
Darwin Nunez ended his 12-game goal drought for Liverpool in their 2-0 Boxing Day win at Burnley - and Jurgen Klopp couldn't have been happier.
The £64million striker - who could wind up costing the Reds a club-record £85m - went through a barren spell before Christmas, resulting in him being dropped from Klopp's first XI. Selected to start at Turf Moor, though, Nunez didn't waste time to make an impact.
In the sixth minute, the Uruguay international played a lovely one-two pass with Liverpool team-mate Cody Gakpo which allowed the Dutch winger to size up Burnley right-back Vitinho. As Nunez had continued on his charging run, Gakpo picked him out and the 24-year-old slotted home past Clarets goalkeeper James Trafford with a coolly-taken first-time finish which gave the Reds an early lead.
On the touchline, delighted boss Klopp could be seen with a beaming smile, clearly chuffed for Nunez. The former Benfica hotshot wasn't done there, however, as he went on to create a game-high three chances before being substituted late on before replacement Diogo Jota grabbed a 90th-minute clincher.
Nunez had managed to contribute earlier this month by laying on assists for his team-mates, but it's goals that he wants and he'll have wished for some new shooting boots for Christmas. Klopp kept faith for a period as Nunez's drought went on and gave him starts against Crystal Palace, Manchester United and West Ham in recent weeks, but the Reds manager eventually dropped the misfiring forward to the bench ahead of last Saturday's crunch clash with Arsenal.
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He was called on from the bench for a 22-minute cameo, although failed to breach Arsenal's defence as the teams played out an exciting 1-1 draw. In the opening games of the season, Nunez was in free-scoring form and played in his usual role as a central striker, just like at Burnley.
Jurgen Klopp was delighted to see Darwin Nunez score in their 2-0 win (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Get involved! Will Darwin Nunez come good at Liverpool? Let us know your prediction in the comments section.
"Darwin is No.9," Klopp affirmed last month. "He can play the wing as well and it all depends on how we want to work an opponent, where the space is, where you can unleash his full potential, things like this.
"The thing is, last year, especially when things did not go particularly well, it was super-important that everything was set up perfectly and we needed a No.9 who defended the centre perfectly in a way Darwin was not able to do then. Now he can."
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