Liverpool’s €100 million contract needs to help the home team solve a difficult problem in the round of 16 of the Champions League this season.
Liverpool know they are approaching the turning point of the season. Two consecutive victories against Everton and Newcastle United in the English Premier League helped “The Kop” return to orbit. The 2022/23 season with coach Jurgen Klopp can still end in an acceptable way if they play well in the Premier League and Champions League.
Liverpool’s problem
Real Madrid will be an ominous challenge, the leading “evil” of Liverpool in the European playground for the past half-decade. Since Klopp came to Anfield to work, no team has beaten Liverpool in the Champions League more than Real Madrid (3 times). The bitter defeat against the Spanish capital club in the two finals in 2018 and 2022 is something that Liverpool fans do not easily forget.
In those failures, Nunez was not present. In the rematch between the two teams this time, the Uruguayan striker is expected to become a differentiating factor for the port city club. Nunez’s impressive performances in the Champions League last season were no small reasons why Liverpool spent up to 100 million euros to recruit this player. Coach Klopp needs a “blockbuster” contract to change the game.
After last season’s Champions League final, coach Carlo Ancelotti made a comment that can be engraved in the memory of his colleague on the other side of the line. “I think the fact that Liverpool are easier to decode than other opponents helps (for Real Madrid – PV) a lot, because they have a very clear identity and we can play the right way in a prepared way.” Real Madrid captain said.
Ancelotti’s speech surprised many people, because the Italian strategist was always a humble coach and rarely commented in a way that lowered the opponent, or revealed such tactical details. “We know what strategy to execute against Liverpool – don’t let them exploit the space behind the defence,” added Ancelotti.
Ancelotti is not wrong. Many English football clubs this season beat Liverpool with a similar strategy to Real Madrid. Brighton consecutively beat “The Kop” in just 2 weeks, in both the Premier League and the FA Cup. Brentford or Man City also found a way to “decode” the port city team since the beginning of the year.
Everyone knows that Liverpool will press high, push the formation and depend on early crosses from both sides. In an interview in October, Klopp admitted that his team needed to “be unpredictable again”. That’s why they needed Nunez. The opening goal against Newcastle in the 24th round of the Premier League proved the “unpredictable” quality from the Uruguayan striker.
Nunez controlled the ball deftly from the long pass, delivering a beautiful volley that was just out of reach for Nick Pope, the top-performing goalkeeper in the league at the moment. South American strikers have always been known for their improvisation and elusiveness in play, and Nunez is expected to become that type of player.
Value of Nunez
With 6 goals in 17 appearances in the Premier League this season, Darwin received much criticism. However, another basic statistic might make people think differently about the 23-year-old striker.
Nunez has averaged 5.48 shots per game, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues this season. The second is Robert Lewandowski (2.28 shots per game), followed by Lionel Messi (2.26) and Kylian Mbappe (2.21). Erling Haaland even reached 1.84 shots per game.
The pessimists might say that Nunez shoots a lot but doesn’t work. However, looking at the other side of the matter, Liverpool’s €100 million signing shows optimism. The way the Uruguayan striker moves and places himself in favorable finishing positions allows him to take many shots.
At the end of last year, Klopp insisted that any good striker he had seen had as many shots as Nunez. “A hundred torches can also catch a frog”, Nunez can completely improve scoring performance if luck or better finishing.
In fact, over the past half-decade, only five players in Europe’s top leagues have averaged more than five shots per game all season. They are Cristiano Ronaldo (3 times), Messi (2 times), Atalanta’s Luis Muriel (also 2 times), Mbappe (1 time) and Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne (1 time). Except for Muriel, all four remaining players on the list above are elite strikers of European football.
That’s why Klopp still has great faith in Nunez. The speed, ability to pass people and improvise handling from a South American striker like Nunez make Liverpool more elusive. A strong shot against Newcastle on February 19 is what the Anfield team needs when facing Real Madrid.
