Liverpool made it clear yesterday that the 4-0 conceded on July 12 in Bangkok against Manchester United in their first pre-season game was an accident. After recovering three days later in Singaput with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, today they endorsed a resounding 0-5 win over Leipzig at their very own stadium, the Red Bull Arena.
read also
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring with his second goal of the summer (8′), but the best part came in the second half when Jürgen Klopp, as in the previous two friendlies, brought in Darwin Núñez, the star signing in exchange for 75 million euros from Benfica.
The 23-year-old Uruguayan striker scored four goals, his first as a ‘red’. The first came by converting a penalty committed on Luis Díaz (48′). At 0-3 he received a short pass into space from Trent Alexander-Arnold that left him alone and he shot a cross at goalkeeper Janis Blaswich (51′).
The 0-4 was scored by Darwin Núñez when he pushed a low cross by Harvey Elliott alone into the goal (68′) and the Uruguayan completed his festival in the 90th minute with the complicity of Blaswich, who did not deflect his centered shot far enough.
Klopp highlights Darwin
Jürgen Klopp, coach of Liverpool, stressed that Darwin Núñez’s performance is “the best way” to stop all debates after the Uruguayan did not see the door in the first two games.
“Mo (Salah) gave Darwin the penalty (which was the striker’s first goal for the English side from Benfica) and Pandora’s box was open. It was a perfect night for him,” explained Klopp. “He is a different striker” than those he has or has had in the team, but the coach remarked that “he is really good.”