A wild Monday in the soccer world occurred this afternoon. During the first 15 minutes of the second half of play in the Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace match, Darwin Nunez of Liverpool didn’t take too kindly to a push from Crystal Palace defender, Joachim Anderson. Here is a video of the incident.
The Liverpool striker completely overreacted to the push from Anderson and will be kicking himself as he will likely face a suspension in only his second match as a member of Liverpool. There was a little theatrics from Anderson, but there is far too much contact on the head-butt between the two players to just let this slide. This is Liverpool’s first outright red card at Anfield since 2019.
The frustration comes from a very real place. Liverpool thoroughly dominated most of the game against Crystal Palace and kept coming up short. Luckily for Darwin Nunez, his counterpart, Luis Diaz, netted a goal shortly after his red card, salvaging a tie for Liverpool. At the end of this game, it seemed as though escaping with a tie was a relief for the Liverpool team.
After the result today, Liverpool has only collected two points in two games, sitting at 12th in the table as it currently stands. The reds need to secure more points in their hopes to win the league this season and will need to do that down a very key player. Nunez has already faced a lot of criticism in the media, mainly because of his price tag, and how he is taking the place of Liverpool legend, Sadio Mane.
They will now be without Nunez for multiple games, as the league will not hesitate in suspending the forward for more than just one contest. There is no room in the game for retaliation like this It was a bone-headed move for the young striker.
Where does Darwin Nunez and Liverpool go from here?
The outlook for Liverpool’s next few weeks will be based on how long Darwin Nunez is suspended. The Uruguayan striker was signed for a lot of money this transfer period, and had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, as the key striker for Liverpool. Roberto Firmino will likely be the one to scoop up the vacant minutes with Nunez sidelined. Firmino is an extremely capable player, but the fresh legs of a 23-year old Nunez, was something Liverpool was banking on for the elongated season.
Liverpool has not gone winless in their first two matches to begin a season in over two decades, putting manager, Jurgen Klopp, in a precarious position to start the season. They have the rest of this week off and square off with rival Manchester United next Monday at Old Trafford. This is certainly not the start that Klopp had imagined at the beginning of the season, but the Liverpool side is too strong to be dormant all season.
Hopefully, Darwin Nunez can learn from this frustrating moment. He is going to face a huge backlash from the Liverpool fans and will need to move forward from this moment, and become the player Liverpool is hoping he can be. If the weighting pressure was a lot before, it will only be multiplied after an event like today.