Darwin Nunez appeared to try and shift the credit onto another Liverpool star after scoring the winning goal in Wednesday’s Champions League victory against RB Leipzig.
Arne Slot’s dream start as Reds boss continued in Germany with Nunez’ 27th minute strike securing a valuable away win that virtually ensures the club’s qualification to the competition’s knockout stages.
Nunez was handed just his fourth start of the season after being trusted to lead the line by Slot and was soon celebrating in Leipzig as he fired in his second goal of the campaign.
The Uruguayan scored with a simple finish, prodding Mohamed Salah’s cross over the line to continue Liverpool’s 100 per cent winning start in the Champions League and cut a shy figure when mobbed by celebrating team-mates.
Salah’s attempt already seemed destined for the back of the net before Nunez’s intervention and the Reds striker tried to tell captain Virgil van Dijk that it was the winger who deserved the real credit.
Darwin Nunez scored the only goal of the game as Liverpool secured a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig
Nunez tapped in at the back-post despite Mohamed Salah’s effort already looking set to nestle in the back of the net
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Nunez ‘we need more’ after opening the scoring
Humbly accepting congratulations from Van Dijk, cameras caught Nunez appearing to humbly tell the defender while pointing at Salah: ‘No it’s Mo.’
But Van Dijk wasn’t as keen on the suggestion and slapped Nunez’s chest while appearing to reply: ‘We need more.’
Salah didn’t appear bothered by the intervention and appeared delighted as the Reds went ahead in a crunch clash that moves them onto nine points in the Champions League table.
Nunez will be hoping his goal and all-round performance puts him in the frame for a potential weekend start as Liverpool travel to Arsenal bidding to keep their place as Premier League leaders.
Reds boss Slot wanted Nunez to take credit for his goal against Leipzig after the match and admitted his delight at seeing the struggling striker score.
‘I’m always happy when we score a goal and I’m not that much into it who scores it,’ he said.
‘It is always good to see all of our players scoring goals and I think in the lead-up to the goal, Cody [Gakpo] and Mo [Salah] were just as important in the goal as Darwin was.
‘What I liked from Darwin was that he was also strong, comfortable on the ball, kept the ball a lot, fighting if he had to defend, so he made it a really difficult game for the two centre-backs of Leipzig.
‘And then for him scoring, I think that is always nice for a striker to be on the scoresheet.’