Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp was left in disbelief after Darwin Nunez missed an open goal in their Europa League group stage tie with Union St Gilloise at Anfield. The Reds striker was primed to put his side in front after an unselfish pass from Mohamed Salah but he fluffed his lines in front of goal, with Klopp lost for words at his £85million striker’s latest howler.
The Uruguayan was handed his fourth start of the season and second in the Europa League after bagging in the victory over LASK Linz last time out.
But if Klopp was expecting the 24-year-old to have more success in front of goal, he would have been left disappointed after a shocking miss in the early stages of the first half.
With the score at 0-0, Liverpool had pieced together a lovely move through Harvey Elliott’s energetic run and threaded pass to Salah. With Nunez free inside the box, the Egyptian kindly squared it to his strike partner – but Nunez fluffed his lines with a humiliating miss from six yards out.
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And Klopp’s reaction on the touchline said everything Nunez needed to know about what his manager felt about the chance.
Klopp usually cuts an animated figure in his technical area and is certainly not shy to give his opinion to his players if they are not playing up to standards. On this occasion though, he looked utterly flabbergasted as he turned to his bench in disbelief, struggling to find the words.
Nunez has been in decent goalscoring form for the Merseyside outfit this season, scoring four goals in just 336 minutes of action in all competitions – including a vital double against Newcastle from the bench.
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But missing gilt-edged chances of this kind will only earn him so much patience from Klopp, who has stood by the former Benfica man after his struggles since his big-money move.
When asked if Nunez was unhappy, Klopp said in August: “Everything is OK. Really, I understand the question. It’s clear he’s not happy – how can a player be happy when he’s not starting?
“The thing is it’s early in the season, we need to find stability, we need to find a formation, we need to get results.”
Nunez’s blushes were spared, however, when Ryan Gravenberch broke the deadlock after 44 minutes following an error from Union goalkeeper Anthony Moris to give them a half-time lead.
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