Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that striker Darwin Nunez is an injury doubt for the visit of Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The club record signing is slowly finding his feet in Liverpool colours and scored in Saturday’s vital 2-0 win over Newcastle, having also assisted in the 2-0 victory against Everton a few days earlier.
But a shoulder problem meant that Nunez only managed 59 minutes at St James’ Park and Liverpool are sweating on his fitness.
“The bad news [is] Darwin has something on his shoulder,” Klopp explained.
“We will see. In that situation I don’t know what [the referee] whistled there against him, to be honest. In the end, he had to go off with a shoulder issue. We need further assessment. I don’t know in the moment. In the moment is it painful, but hopefully it’s just painful and not more.”
Nunez has scored 11 times in all competitions for Liverpool this season. The 23-year-old will fall well short of the 34 he got for Benfica last term, although he has fared significantly better in the Champions League, suggesting the more technical European football still suits him more.
Nunez netted in three successive Champions League group games against Rangers, Ajax and Napoli prior to the World Cup.
Roberto Firmino replaced the Uruguayan off the bench in Newcastle and the experienced Brazilian would likely get the nod to start against Real if Nunez isn’t fit by Tuesday night. That could see Cody Gakpo shifted to the left, having largely been deployed centrally since arriving last month.
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Credit: 90min.com
