Liverpool

Liverpool

Premier League • England

Much-maligned Liverpool man lauded for ‘ridiculous goal’ in cup draw; Cody Gakpo gives honest verdict on Anfield debut

Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo Liverpool v Wolves FA Cup

A much-maligned Liverpool star was given plenty of praise for his stunning strike in the FA Cup third-round draw with Wolves on Saturday evening.

Having missed a host of chances, since domestic football resumed after the World Cup, Darwin Nunez netted with a superb volley in the 2-2 draw at Anfield that had pundits and fans purring alike.

Nunez levelled after running onto Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pin-point ball into the area to sidefoot home after Alisson’s mistake had gifted Goncalo Guedes the opener.

Mo Salah went past Kenny Dalglish in the club’s all-time list with his 173rd goal in a red shirt to give Jurgen Klopp’s men the lead, only for Hwang Hee-Chan to secure a replay for the visitors.

Wolves were also denied by a controversial VAR offside call late on in an entertaining clash.

It was Nunez who grabbed the headlines though after answering his critics in the best possible way at Anfield.

And reacting to the classy strike, BBC commentator Michael Brown was taken aback by the quality involved.

He said: “That is a ridiculous goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold has all the space on the right hand side and he plays the ball really deep.

“Darwin Nunez is stepping onto it and he catches it as clean as you will ever see and guides it past the goalkeeper into the far corner. Ridiculous Finish.”

Nunez is now into double figures in a Liverpool shirt and went some way to answering his critics with the strike.

Gakpo reflects on up and down Liverpool debut

Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo made his Reds debut in the clash, lasting 83 minutes to before coming off.

And speaking after the game, the Netherlands star was happy with how things went – despite the result.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: “Really great atmosphere. For my own game, I think I showed some good moments and some sloppy moments.

“So, I can also still improve on those points and keep working. Ty to help the team as much as I can.

“Of course you learn the most when you’re playing games, so I’m looking forward [to more].”

On the game, the forward added: “I think we played in phases really good football. But in the end we didn’t score enough, so that’s a pity.

“But I think we showed what we could do, but we can still improve on some points and let’s work on that. I think we showed real team spirit at moments, so that’s good.

“I think we have to go there [Molineux] with great determination and just go for the win.”

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