Darwin Nunez’s imperfect night at Ajax was a show of character, power and promise

Liverpool were still mired in mediocrity when Sadio Mane struck against serial champions of Europe. Not for them, admittedly. The runner-up in the Ballon d’Or contest scored some 800 miles further south, setting Bayern Munich on a course to victory over Barcelona.

Meanwhile, the man Liverpool signed as Mane’s replacement was not enjoying such a smooth start to his night. Darwin Nunez feels destined to be compared to two players: his predecessor and the summer’s other big striking signing, Erling Haaland. Each equates to a burden, because few reach the heights Mane and Haaland have scaled.

But, a few minutes after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting proved that goals against Barcelona are not confined to the modern-day greats, Nunez revived memories of a forward from Liverpool’s past. Not Ian Rush or Roger Hunt, Robbie Fowler or Fernando Torres, though. He had his Ronnie Rosenthal moment.

Cruel as it is for a player who delivered telling goals when he joined Liverpool, the Israeli is remembered most for the one he didn’t score, for the open goal he missed against Aston Villa. Nunez staged his equivalent, his exercise in embarrassment, from a fraction inside the six-yard box, with goalkeeper Remko Pasveer taken out of the game by Roberto Firmino’s wonderful pass. It should have been an assist, but Nunez hit the post.

The $64,000 question was how the £64m man had not scored. Jurgen Klopp argued he was taken aback by his supplier’s altruistic streak. Maybe Nunez didn’t know Firmino well enough. There is a reason the Brazilian can go on goal droughts, and why Klopp does not judge him on his individual output. “A situation that explains Bobby Firmino in a nutshell,” he argued. “He passed that ball and I think Darwin was surprised as well.” Although, having made a run into such a promising position, it would suggest he was anticipating getting the ball.

Klopp showed his diplomatic skills. “A sensational football moment where we unfortunately hit the post there,” he said, reflecting on the efforts of Andy Robertson and Firmino to create the chance, not the inability of Nunez to take it.

The Uruguayan was less sanguine in the immediate aftermath. “Darwin was really angry with himself at half-time,” said Andy Robertson and Joachim Andersen can testify what an angry Nunez can do. Instead, the left back conjured some prophetic words. “I don’t know if he understood a word I said, but I said: ‘I’ll put a cross on your head and you’ll score no problem.’”

Which he duly did. Nunez may have had 15 minutes to stew on it but only five of football separated the miss from his goal, headed in from the Scot’s corner. An ignominious miss became an irrelevant one, the catastrophe being followed by the catharsis, a troubled start against Ajax into a comfortable win. In such situations, the temptation is to say Nunez showed his character. Perhaps, though, he displayed his power.

“A great cross and Darwin takes on pretty much everyone,” Klopp said. If it is in his nature to speak positively about his players, it is also his wont to reflect on their contribution as a whole. “He had a really good game in both directions, helped defending and played with a big heart,” Klopp added.

That is an attitude he likes, and one which Mane shares. Klopp’s definition of a good game can differ from others’; gangly and ungainly, Nunez does not ooze class. His technique remains imperfect. But he is an aerial threat who was clocked at 38kph last week. For Klopp, who appreciates physicality more than most, it amounts to an enticing combination.

As Nunez’s two main chances in Amsterdam indicate, his superpower is not being clinical. It is in getting in goalscoring positions and efforts away. The most notable moment of his Premier League career remains his headbutt on Andersen, but there is a startling statistic: he averages 7.37 shots per 90 minutes, albeit from a small sample size. Even Haaland only averages 4.40. Salah topped the charts last season at 4.33. He is a constant threat, an agent of chaos.

But if he is not as celebrated as Mane, not as refined in his pressing, not as proven at elite level, he had to impersonate him in one respect. Klopp described his formation as something of a diamond, with Firmino in more of a withdrawn role even than normal. It meant Nunez and Mohamed Salah were twin strikers, but with the Uruguayan in Mane’s stead.

His brief Liverpool career had largely been spent as the No. 9, but many of his goals for Benfica came from bursting through the inside-left channel. Especially in the absence of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota, giving him a Mane-esque brief, mirroring Salah, is a way of getting him in an attacking trio, whether a 4-4-2 diamond or a 4-3-3 with Firmino the central figure. And while it wasn’t the defining element of his miss, it came from the sort of position Mane specialised in getting into. The challenge for Nunez is to follow ever more closely in his footsteps.