Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has disclosed that the altercation between teammate Darwin Nunez and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola originated as a lighthearted joke that escalated quickly.
Following last month’s 1-1 draw between the two sides, tempers flared, prompting Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool staff to intervene.
Guardiola downplayed the incident, stating that “nothing happened.” Mac Allister, in an interview with Clank!, provides insight into the sequence of events that led to the heated exchange between Nunez and Guardiola.
“As Jurgen said, they are two very emotional people, both Pep and Darwin, and it was nothing,” Mac Allister said. “Some comment that Pep made, Darwin responded to it, but it wasn’t anything out of this world.
“And that’s why I was laughing too. If I see how serious it is, obviously I wouldn’t laugh in that way. But nothing made me laugh a little, like how Darwin got angry so quickly.
“And apart from that, at the beginning, Pep thought he was doing everything like a joke, and of course Darwin was with him. It had transformed his face a little, then.
“It was kind of a little funny, the whole situation, but those are things that stay there. I think they both respect each other a lot, and nothing was wrong at that moment.”
The Liverpool midfielder continued: “I don’t know if I should tell [what caused it] but I’m going to tell you. Basically, they had a situation.
“I don’t know if it was a corner or a cross that [Erling] Haaland headed and the ball went past the goal next to the post. Pep turned around and started saying how lucky we are or something like that.
“Then it goes to the last bit of play, the ball is crossed into the middle and Lucho Diaz wants to head it and they save it. So then Darwin tells [Guardiola], ‘Ah, now you are the ones who are lucky’.
“From there, everything went to s**t. But it was very calm. Nothing serious.”
The South Korean team’s defensive strategies have been disrupted by Kim Min-injury, jae’s according to coach Paulo Bento.
Kim Min-jae of Napoli sustained the injury during Thursday’s scoreless draw between South Korea and Uruguay.
While Uruguay started with both current and former Liverpool strikers in Darwin Nunez and Luis Suarez, Heung-Min Son was able to play for South Korea despite having just damaged an eye socket, but none of them were successful in breaking through in a competitive game in Qatar.
“I don’t have enough data to make comments (about his injury). We will see what will happen,” Bento said.
“Because of his injury, it hindered our performance as we could not continue the game as we had…We struggled to take our defensive lines to other areas and then decided to lower it and group them together,”
“Min-Jae is a player who played almost all matches (in the Champions League for Napoli) in a short time and, as a consequence, we now have an injury in the World Cup,”
Jurgen Klopp has “no idea” how good Darwin Nunez could become but believes the Liverpool forward’s output so far has been “incredible” considering the “knock” of his early suspension.
Nunez was Liverpool’s big-money pre-season signing, arriving from Benfica for a fee that could reportedly reach £85million (€100m).
The 23-year-old enjoyed a flying start to life in England, scoring from the bench against both Manchester City and Fulham, but his first appearance in the starting XI was cut short by a red card against Crystal Palace that prompted a three-match ban.
As a result, Nunez has still only played 636 minutes for Liverpool in late October, although he has been in the thick of the action when he has been on the pitch.
The Uruguay forward has six goals and an assist, and he might have added more; he is averaging 6.4 shots per 90 in open play, almost double second-placed Liverpool star Mohamed Salah’s 3.3.
Including chances created and contributions to build-up play, Nunez has been involved in 8.1 attacking sequences per 90 in open play – another leading mark among Liverpool players.
Liverpool in 2022-23 🔴
Players with most attacking open play sequence involvements (taking a shot, creating a shot or being involved in the build up to a shot). pic.twitter.com/YJBaLy3TOp
He has marginally underperformed his 6.4 expected goals, even if his expected goals on target value – calculated from the quality of the attempt rather than the quality of the chance – of 6.6 suggests his finishing has not largely been at fault.
Those numbers might easily be ignored in the face of some of the more eye-catching misses, as Nunez has converted only four of his 14 ‘big chances’, from which Opta would expect a player to score.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game against Leeds United, Klopp listed a range of factors that would suggest a tough first season for Nunez, meaning he is willing to forgive those occasional failings in front of goal.
“Darwin came here after a short break in the summer, arriving in Asia, doesn’t speak a word [of English], and he’s young, and Liverpool’s a big club, and it’s a big step for him, and he was expensive,” Klopp said. “All these kinds of things.
“It’s like everybody’s looking at you – the whole place is dark and there’s one light that’s a spot on you. You have to deal with that, but we don’t expect them to deal immediately. If you cause it, then you have to be prepared, but he did not.”
After the red card, Klopp said: “He feels embarrassed for himself, definitely – that’s how everybody would react.
“From not being 100 per cent confident, getting a knock like this is not cool. He can blame nobody else. Then he has to start new.”
However, his manager added: “For all these things, his numbers are incredible, to be absolutely honest.
“You talk about the xG of Leeds, I’m pretty sure his xG is high as well. He had a few chances, which he missed, but he scored as well. He’s involved in a lot of finishing moments.
“The steps he’s made are really big, and that means automatically that he settles in more and more.”
With Nunez so impactful even while passing up such opportunities, his potential with a little more work is “so exciting”.
“Nobody knows [how good he can be]; he doesn’t know,” Klopp said. “That is so exciting.
“He has to stay fit and be available all the time, and he wasn’t against Nottingham [Forest]. That’s all important in the life of a professional football player.
“We have to work on all different areas. The potential is incredible. It’s not only speed; the attitude is really good, he’s a real worker.
“There are people out there who, technically, not sure, first touch… it’s incredible. He does not bring it on the pitch in the moment all the time. His first touch might be here or there sometimes, but it’s nothing to do with technique. It’s just a bit too late, awareness, orientation, all these kinds of things.
“It’s all possible to develop and learn, and that’s where we are at. It’s really exciting. But where it could go? I have no idea.”
Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez is a “goal machine” and will only improve as he grows in confidence, according to team-mate Kostas Tsimikas.
Nunez scored his second goal in his last two Premier League starts to guide Liverpool to a 1-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday, a result which moved Jurgen Klopp’s men to within four points of the top four.
The Uruguay striker was criticised by some for starting slowly following his big-money move from Benfica, but he has now hit five goals for Liverpool in all competitions this season.
That tally has only been bettered by two of his team-mates: Mohamed Salah (nine) and Roberto Firmino (eight).
Asked about Nunez’s qualities, Tsimikas said: “He’s always there. He can score with the left, with the right, with the head – he’s a goal machine.
“He needs confidence, [which] is coming, and I hope for him all the best [to] score more and more goals to help the team, to give us more wins. For us, he is a very, very important player.”
Tsimikas teed up Nunez’s headed winner with a pinpoint delivery from the left flank, and has now provided five assists in all competitions this season – a tally only matched by Diogo Jota among fellow Liverpool players.
The Greece international was particularly pleased to have laid on a goal for Nunez, adding: “It’s a very good moment for me. Especially because it was a cross for Darwin, because I wanted to assist him.”
Tsimikas, quoted on Liverpool’s website, said: “I’m very, very happy for him because I know he wanted to score also. Obviously he would [want] to score more goals but hopefully he keeps his energy and his goals for the next games.
“I’m very, very happy for that. Every day, I work to make better crosses and to have better performances. So, I’m very happy for that.”
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 29 Premier League games at Anfield (W22 D7), and have scored 100 goals against West Ham in the competition, making the Irons the fourth side they have reached a century of goals against, after Newcastle United, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Liverpool’s win over Rangers saw Darwin Nunez make his first start since being sent off against Crystal Palace
Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez says he has found adapting to English football difficult but the Uruguayan accepts that has been partly self-inflicted.
Signed for an initial £64m, he scored on his Premier League debut, only to be sent off in the next game.
And if it wasn’t for two members of Jurgen Klopp’s coaching team, Nunez, 23, says he would have “no idea” what the Reds’ German boss was saying.
“We don’t talk much,” he said. “I don’t know English, he doesn’t know Spanish.”
Nunez has spent the last two seasons in Portugal with Benfica and two of Klopp’s coaches – Pep Lijnders and Vitor Matos – speak Portuguese.
“They are the translators when Klopp talks to the group,” Nunez told TNT Sports Brasil.external-link “They sit next to me and explain what I have to do.
“If they didn’t explain it to me, I’d enter the field with no idea what to do.
“But the relationship with the coach is that he supports me, gives me confidence and I have to repay that on the field.”
Will Liverpool striker Nunez learn from horror home debut?
‘I have to calm my nerves and talk less’Nunez was sent off against Palace for headbutting defender Joachim Andersen
After serving a three-match ban for his red card against Crystal Palace, Nunez has failed to score in five appearances for Liverpool.
But he made his first start for the Reds in a month on Tuesday, helping them beat Rangers 2-0 in the Champions League.
“The truth is that it was a little difficult to adapt but I believe that, as training and games go by, I will adapt little by little,” Nunez added.
“[After the red card] was a very tough time. I know I made a big mistake and now I’m aware that it won’t happen again.
“I have to calm my nerves during the games, talk less. We all make mistakes and I know it will serve as a learning experience.
“The important thing is to leave my mark on the team, be someone who can always contribute by playing well and, if I don’t score, I have to be calm.
“When the first [goal] goes in, more will go in. I’ve been through that [before] and it’s a little uncomfortable because, in the end, as forwards we live on goals.
“But I’m calm, the coach has always supported me. My team-mates also support me at all times and I will always try to help the team by scoring goals or, even without a goal, try to help the best I can.”
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Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez says he has had to learn to adapt to life in the Premier League after a difficult start, adding: “I needed to calm my nerves”.
The Uruguay international was the flagship signing of the Reds’ transfer window and netted in his first two appearances for the club in a blaze of early potential.
But a red card for an altercation with Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen shortly afterwards handed him a three-match ban that has left him struggling to acclimatise since.
Nunez arguably delivered his best performance since the opening weeks in Tuesday’s 2-0 home win over Rangers in the Champions League, and now feels he is making steps forward once more.
“The truth is that it was a little difficult to adapt, but I believe that, as training and games go by, I will adapt little by little,” he told TNT Sports Brasil.
“[After the red card] was a very tough time. I was suspended for three games, I know I made a big mistake, and now I’m aware that it won’t happen again.
“I have to calm my nerves during the games and talk less. We all make mistakes and I know it will serve as a learning experience.
“The important thing is to leave my mark on the team, someone who can always contribute by playing well and, if I don’t score, I have to be calm.”
Difficulties with the language barrier have seen Nunez lean heavily on Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders to bridge the gap, but the German has reassured his star of his support.
“I don’t know English and he doesn’t know Spanish,” Nunez said about Klopp.
“But the relationship with the coach is that he supports me, gives me confidence and I have to repay that on the field.”
Darwin Nunez will “score a lot of goals and show his talent” despite a tough start to his Liverpool career, says ex-Reds midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.
Striker signing Nunez, who scored on his Premier League debut against Fulham, has failed to add to his tally following a three-match ban for a red card against Crystal Palace in August.
But Sissoko – a Liverpool player for three years under Rafael Benitez – is confident the Uruguay forward simply needs time to adapt.
“It’s not easy to play in the Premier League. It’s a big difference between the Portuguese league and the Premier League,” Sissoko told Stats Perform.
“If Liverpool spent a lot of money for this player, it’s because he has quality. I’m sure he’s going to score a lot of goals and show his talent, because he has talent.”
🗣️ ¡𝙂𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙇!
Darwin Núñez convierte el 2-0 ante Canadá a los 33 minutos.
Liverpool are down in eighth place in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season in which they dropped points against Fulham, Palace, Manchester United and Everton.
And Nunez is not the only player to have struggled, with fellow forward Mohamed Salah criticised in scoring only twice in six league matches.
But Sissoko feels Salah’s team-mates are as much to blame, adding: “It depends on the team also. When you play well, when you score, you make lots of good things, it depends on the team, not one player.
“The team has to play well, and after Mo Salah is going to show his talent.”
With a tough run of fixtures ahead and with only two clean sheets so far, Liverpool will also need to improve defensively if they are to climb the table.
When asked about Liverpool’s back line and recent scrutiny of Virgil van Dijk, Sissoko said: “He’s still one of the best defenders in Europe.
“[Just] because he’s not playing well in one game or three games, you can’t say he’s a poor player. He has quality.
“He’s captain of the Netherlands national team, he plays for Liverpool, and he’s shown everyone he’s a good player. He’s a leader also.
“Sometimes in football, [things] happen. Sometimes you play well, sometimes you play not good, but I’m sure after the international break all the team is going to win and [take] Liverpool higher.”
Gabriel Jesus is a great pick, if not an original one, but the 591,013 managers who gave him the captain’s armband against Leicester stole a march on nearly six million others who went with either Erling Haaland or Mo Salah in gameweek two.
You may well be tempted to follow suit in gameweek three with Arsenal away to Bournemouth and if you’re a Darwin Nunez owner who doesn’t have Jesus then that is a very obvious switch with the Liverpool striker now suspended for three games after his red card against Crystal Palace.
Away from the obvious names of Haaland and Harry Kane, I think Brentford’s Ivan Toney is definitely a good Nunez replacement with a goal and two assists to his name already this season before a run of fixtures against the likes of Fulham, Everton, Leeds and Southampton.
That would also give you a couple of million to beef up your defence or midfield.
Going back to the Arsenal theme Gabriel Martinelli, now £6.3m, has definitely been worth the saving on Bukayo Saka (£8m) so far, but if you’re a Saka owner like me then I would stick with him and I’m even tempted to be greedy and go for both.
There’s no harm in an Arsenal double-up, or even triple-up along with Jesus, for fixtures against Bournemouth, Fulham, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Everton in the next five gameweeks.
The double Manchester City defence, Joao Cancelo plus one of Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker or Ederson, looks like a very sound strategy as they simply haven’t looked like conceding a goal so far this season. Walker is the best value option there but his price has already risen to £5.1m with lots of managers adding him to their teams.
If you chose Kevin De Bruyne over Mo Salah or Son Heung-Min as your premium midfielder then that worked out very nicely in gameweek two, but I wouldn’t sell Salah or Son if that’s the way you’ve gone because their time will come.
De Bruyne is purring though at the start of this season and comes with less rotation risk than the likes of Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, hence his higher price tag.
Don’t ignore Ilkay Gundogan either at £7.5m, particularly with Bernardo Silva’s future still up in the air. The German has started both games this season and continues to get in great attacking positions as proved by his goal against Bournemouth.
Talking of attacking positions, I commentated on Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over West Ham last weekend and Neco Williams really caught the eye, putting in some excellent crosses from set-pieces and open play. If you’re looking for a bargain defender then he’s your man at £4m.
I’m already going off the idea of my two £4m Leicester goalkeepers though – Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen – after the team has shipped six goals against Brentford and Arsenal, so I think I’m going to bump one of them up to Brighton’s Robert Sanchez, who costs just £500,000 more.
Leon Bailey also looks like an early problem in my squad, as he will be for plenty of other managers as he was owned by almost 15% of us in the game in gameweek two, but there’s not many reliable options at his price point of £5m to replace him.
Brentford’s Josh Dasilva is an option at just £4.6m and his return to first-team action has been a heart-warming story this season, but will he continue to start regularly in a competitive Brentford midfield?
I still think Fulham’s Andreas Pereira is the best £4.5m midfielder if he’s fit, or you could go for Brighton’s Pascal Gross at £5.6m if you’re able to spend a little more.
The best bet, if you haven’t already got him, might be to make some money by downgrading someone else in your squad and bumping Bailey up to Martinelli – can you tell I’m quite keen on him?
Finally we’d love you to get involved on the Fantasy 606 podcast this season with me, Chris Sutton and Statman Dave.
We’ve got a team managed by the listeners going up against us, but unfortunately gameweek two hasn’t gone all that well for you – Robbie from Brisbane opted for a -4 to take Andy Robertson and Jesus out of the team to replace them with Oleksandr Zinchenko and Nunez, a move which actually ended up costing 26 points!
If you want to have a go then please e-mail us on fantasy606@bbc.co.uk.
The first episode of the podcast previewing the new season is currently available on the BBC Sounds App.
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Darwin Nunezmade his first Liverpool start but could not prevent his side from losing for the second time this pre-season as they lost 1-0 to Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg.
In Liverpool’s last pre-season friendly before Saturday’s Community Shield against Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp put out a second-string side in Austria but started marquee signing Nunez fresh off his four goals against RB Leipzig last week.
The Uruguay forward struck the crossbar in a frustrating first half for the Reds, which saw them fall behind on the counter-attack courtesy of another familiar name in the transfer window.
Benjamin Sesko, linked to Manchester United and Newcastle in the UK media, swept past Adrian on the half-hour mark after superbly bursting past Ibrahima Konate to start the attack off.
Image: Benjamin Sesko scored the winning goal in Austria
Nunez was taken off at half-time and Liverpool had a near-full strength side on 60 minutes and created far more chances.
The best fell to Luis Diaz just minutes after coming on, with the Colombia international playing a one-two with Jordan Henderson before forcing Salzburg goalkeeper Nico Mantl into a good save.
Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah forced Mantl into a good save, before Diaz had a run and finish disallowed for offside.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson all had late efforts but the Austrian side held on for the victory.
Klopp: Darwin needs more support | ‘It didn’t feel like a friendly’
Klopp lamented the way his Liverpool side started Wednesday night’s friendly and called on his players to get close to record signing Nunez in order to be more threatening up front.
“First half, we made too many mistakes which they could use,” Klopp said after the game. “We had good moments in the game as well, we could have scored four, five goals at least. We didn’t do that.
“Darwin was alone too much, everybody dropped off and everyone was then too wide and Darwin was alone in the box. He had his chances but he needs more support around him to keep other players busy so they don’t focus on him. It doesn’t feel great but we take it and go from here.”
Image: Klopp called on Liverpool’s player to offer more support to Darwin Nunez
Klopp admitted the match did not feel like a friendly due to the emotion Salzburg put in the game – and while some of the Austrian side’s challenges were too harsh at times, he had full respect for the opposition.
“In the first half, we were too open, too wide and weren’t connected enough. When we lost the ball, it was like a motorway with their speed – especially when you lose simple passes where nobody can react.
“The last half an hour was like a thunderstorm. We were like a truck but we didn’t finish them off. It will be fine. We had to make a lot of changes but I take that.
“It didn’t feel like a friendly, for Salzburg and us as well. Salzburg had these rough challenges but they did really well. All respect to them, sometimes I didn’t like their challenges but nothing happened there I think.”
Liverpool have reached a deal with Benfica to sign Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez, the Portuguese club have confirmed.
Benfica say a fee of 75m euros (£64m), rising to a potential 100m euros (£85m) with add-ons, has been agreed.
Nunez, 22, scored 34 times in 41 appearances across all competitions for Benfica last season.
Liverpool’s record transfer is the £75m paid to sign centre-back Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in 2018.
Premier League rivals Manchester United were reportedly also interested in signing Nunez, who cost Benfica 24m euros (£20.5m) when he signed from Spanish side Almeria in 2020.
The striker, who has 11 caps for Uruguay, scored 26 goals in 28 league games in 2021-22 – with 25 of those goals coming in the 24 league matches in which he started.
He also scored six times in 10 Champions League games last season, including against Liverpool in both legs of their quarter-final in April.
Liverpool won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season – along with finishing as Premier League runners-up and losing in the Champions League final.
Portuguese 19-year-old Fabio Carvalho became Liverpool’s first signing of the summer transfer window in May, with the forward set to officially join from Fulham on 1 July.
The Reds have rejected a deal worth £30m from Bayern Munich for Senegal forward Sadio Mane who, like the club’s Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, is set to become a free agent next summer if an agreement over a new contract cannot be reached.
Brazil forward Roberto Firmino, another key part of Liverpool’s attack during Klopp’s tenure, has also entered the final 12 months of his current deal, while Japan international Takumi Minamino is attracting interest from a number of clubs.
