After Darwin Nunez’s glaring miss in Liverpool’s draw with Aston Villa was highlighted by Virgil van Dijk, the Uruguayan has responded by sending a message to fans on social media
Darwin Nunez has vowed to bounce back after Virgil van Dijk admitted the Uruguayan’s horror miss against Aston Villa cost Liverpool.
Nunez, 25, came off the bench and wasted a golden chance when he sent a six-yard shot over the bar with the match poised at 2-2 on Wednesday. Had the Uruguayan converted what looked to be a virtually unmissable chance, the Reds would have extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 10 points.
After the match, Arne Slot admitted he was more disappointed by Nunez’s sombre reaction to the miss than the miss itself. However, Van Dijk, while not directly referencing Nunez, made it clear that the opportunity should have been taken.
Reflecting on Thursday, Nunez took to his personal social media page and vowed to put his Villa Park nightmare behind him. Also sharing a picture of himself celebrating his two late goals against Brentford last month, Nunez tweeted: “I was not the best three weeks ago nor am I the worst now.
“If I fall, I get up. You will never see me throw in the towel. I will give it my all until the last day I am here in Liverpool. Resilience!”
Nunez had earlier shared a more emotional post which was subsequently removed. It said: “Two or three weeks ago, Darwin was the best, Darwin gave us three points, but yesterday I had the bad luck of missing a goal and now I am once again the ‘worst’ and the loser. I don’t fall, I get up and will never give up. I will give it my all until the last day I am here in Liverpool. Resilience!”
After the match, Van Dijk appeared to refer to Nunez’s 69th-minute chance while admitting the match should have been won. The Netherlands international said: “We are a bit disappointed but we fight. We had chances to win the game, took a bit of a risk at the end so it got more open at times.
Virgil van Dijk admitted Nunez’s missed chance was costly ( Image: TNT Sports)
“In possession we did quite well, created good opportunities to score the second. Disappointing to concede from a set-piece. We tried everything and unfortunately it wasn’t enough for three points.
“We should have scored 3-2, but credit to Aston Villa, they made it very difficult. We have a very tough one on the weekend again, then we play Newcastle, our focus now will be on Man City, a very difficult game, we know that.”
Slot also said Nunez went into his shell after missing the opportunity and failed to show the energy and determination that has endeared him to Liverpool supporters. The Dutchman said: “It is not the chance but the 20 minutes afterwards that I will talk to Darwin about. Yes, I will tell him that [he still has a major part to play] as well. I will tell him that you can miss a chance but you cannot miss out on work rate.
Nunez was crestfallen after the miss ( Image: PA)
“That is the life of a striker, he will miss chances and score some. It is part of the job of a No.9, you miss when people expect you to score. It is not part of the job of a No.9 to slow down in work rate. And that is something we will talk about.
can accept every miss, especially from a player who scored two very important goals away at Brentford and that scored for us in the home game against Villa. I would prefer him to score but the word ‘chance’ says it all. It is a chance and not 100% [certain] that it goes in.
“I can accept misses but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance. It got too much in his head, he was not the usual Darwin who works his backside off and makes sure he helps the team. He was too disappointed he missed that.”
