The adrenaline was still coursing through the veins of a jubilant Darwin Nunez when he said the words Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would probably have been dreading.
“The truth is that to earn the position of number nine I have to work, not settle for anything and that’s what I try to do when I come to the national team,” said the striker. “I come to leave everything on the field, it was noticeable today. I ended up a little cramped in the end. I’m happy with the victory.”
Not that Klopp will have been concerned at Nunez, staying true to type, straining every sinew to register a goal and an assist as Uruguay earned a first victory over Brazil since 2001 in their latest World Cup qualifier, his cramp late on evidence of the 100% approach to his game.
The worry for the Reds manager will be that the forward was doing so in the early hours UK time on Wednesday morning given his team resume Premier League hostilities against Everton in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday.
Indeed, with those 12.30pm kick-offs after an international break now a regular feature for the Reds – come next month at Manchester City, they’ll have played in six of the last eight – Klopp knows more than any other Premier League manager about the difficulties of reintegrating South American players into the squad after intense qualifiers and a long journey back to Merseyside.
Nunez, along with Luis Diaz, Alisson Becker and Alexis Mac Allister, are likely to have only one training session at the AXA Training Centre before Saturday’s 243rd Merseyside derby.
The Uruguayan has yet to start a Liverpool game immediately after an international break, benched three times last season and also among the substitutes for last month’s trip to Wolves. But it was the introduction of both Nunez and Diaz during the second half at Molineux that turned the game in Liverpool’s favour, a 1-0 reverse transformed into a 3-1 triumph with the former a nuisance for the home defence and integral in the build-up to the game-sealing third strike late on.
While not a direct assist, it was an example of how when on the pitch, Nunez has been making his presence felt for both club and country this season.
In Uruguay’s World Cup qualifier at Diaz’s Colombia last Thursday, Nunez notched from the penalty spot, and has now contributed two goals and two assists in four games for the national team this term. And for Liverpool, while only starting in five of his 10 appearances thus far, he has notched four times and laid on three goals.
In terms of the Premier League as a whole, no player averages more shots at goal per 90 minutes than Nunez, who also has the highest average of goal contributions per game ahead of Newcastle United’s Callum Wilson and Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah.
Klopp will be reluctant to start any of his outfield South American players, although doubts over the availability of Cody Gakpo after missing the last two games with a knee problem could force the manager into going with one of Diaz or Nunez.
And with Nunez having laid on a goal for Salah in Liverpool’s 2-0 Anfield derby win in February, it could twist further the arm of the Reds boss to ask the striker to spearhead the attack.
“We started talking about this match after Colombia,” said Nunez to Uruguayan outlet El Observador. “It was a difficult, direct rival. It was worth everyone’s effort. We played a great game when it came to attacking and defending. It had been 22 years since we beat Brazil, they are a very strong team, that’s clear. We made history and now let’s celebrate and return to our clubs.”
Klopp may now be compelled to ensure he harnesses the confidence and form of the forward this weekend. Nunez, after all, is a player very much in form.
