Darwin Nunez had a priceless reaction to being pranked by a young fan, who posed for a picture with the Liverpool striker before revealing his Manchester United shirt.
Nunez has certainly split opinion since arriving in the Premier League last summer, with fans expecting him to have a similar impact to Erling Haaland.
That certainly hasn’t been the case for the Uruguayan, but he’s still scored six goals in the league for Jurgen Klopp’s side, and has many supporters in Merseyside.
On the weekend fans showed their love for him by singing his name, and his reaction was extremely wholesome, as he beamed with pride.
He must have thought another fan was sharing their affection for him when they paused to take a picture with him, only to reveal a United kit underneath their jacket, and Nunez’s reaction was brilliant, as you can see in the video below.
Nunez recently explained why he, and new teammate Cody Gakpo, may have struggled with their starts to life at Anfield, explaining he had to get use to team.
“Here at Liverpool I have teammates who are all high-quality footballers,” Nunez told the club website.
“I need to be able to understand how they play a little more and it’s the same for them with me. It’s what settling into each other’s games is all about.
“They get used to how I play and, in turn, I grow accustomed to how they play. I think that in time we’ll start to see some good and positive results.”
The Reds were struggling recently but bounced back this week with two huge results, first beating Everton in the Merseyside derby and then defeating top four rivals Newcastle United at the weekend.
The former Benfica star was on target at St James’ Park, opening the scoring after 10 minutes, with Gakpo doubling the lead seven minutes later.
It was Eddie Howe’s side’s second loss in the league of the campaign, having also lost the reverse fixture, thanks to a super late injury time goal.
Their win left Liverpool just six points off the Magpies, with a game in hand, although it’s now Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth Champions League spot.
Worse news for Newcastle was the loss of Nick Pope for the Carabao Cup at the weekend, after he was sent off against Liverpool when he lost his head and handled the ball outside of the area.
Darwin Nunez rubbed salt into the wounds with Marcus Rashford celebration, he went there
Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez has been accused of ‘mocking’ Marcus Rashford after he performed the Manchester United forward’s trademark celebration in Sunday’s Premier League clash at Anfield.
The 23-year-old Uruguayan striker, who has scored 14 goals in 34 appearances for club and country this season, netted a brace for Liverpool in their 7-0 drubbing of Manchester United.
He doubled the home side’s advantage shortly after the restart before bagging his brace with 75 minutes played.
And after giving Jurgen Klopp’s side a resounding 5-0 lead following goals from Cody Gakpo [2] and Mohamed Salah, the former Benfica man celebrated by pointing to his temple.
Whether he meant to or not, Nunez was accused of mocking the in-form Rashford, who has been in prolific form for Erik ten Hag’s side of late.
After the majority of his 28 goals this season, Rashford has pointed his index finger to his temple – a celebration that has been performed by many players since, including Nunez.
One fan commented on the incident, saying: “How am I only noticing now that Nunez mocked Rashford?” while another commented: “Difference thing is Nunez is 5th and Rashy is 3rd with a trophy and still in FA Cup.”
A third added: “Top player. Always rated him. Even when he wasn’t scoring he was always causing problems to the opposition just needed to be clinical which he is now showing.”
So why does Rashford perform such a celebration? For months, the meaning behind his symbolic finger-point remained unknown until Rio Ferdinand paid a visit to Carrington last month.
Speaking on his VIBE with FIVE podcast, Ferdinand explained: “Rashford, I found out today, by the way, I went to Carrington today to interview Bruno [Fernandes], it was good.
“I saw [long-serving receptionist] Kath [Phipps], been there 56 years the lady! Ridiculous! But the celebration, it’s mentality. Nice, innit. Simple. But it’s just travelled massively.
“Everyone ‘round the world is doing it now. All the young kids scoring goals, that’s the impact Rashford has had.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, praised Darwin Nunez’s impact at Anfield in his post-match press conference.
“It was one of the best performances for a long, long time,” he said.
“In a way, everybody saw how good the boys could be. Nobody is in doubt about Darwin’s future impact because he’s a real force of nature, but Cody plays in the most difficult area of the pitch against a man-marking side, which is super tricky, but look how he keeps himself on his feet and provides the overview for everyone else. And Mo is Mo!”
Thoughts on Nunez’s celebration against Manchester United on Sunday?
Let us know in the comments.
