Darwin Nunez came off the bench to score twice in the final 10 minutes as 10-man Liverpool came from a goal down to stun Newcastle 2-1 at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
Anthony Gordon had pounced on a Trent Alexander-Arnold mistake to put the Magpies in front before Virgil van Dijk was sent off for bringing down Alexander Isak inside half an hour.
But Newcastle failed to make the man advantage count and were punished when Nunez produced two moments of rare quality so far in his Liverpool career to turn the game on its head.
“With 10 men in my history, 1,000 games (as a manager), I have never had something like that. At Newcastle, in this stadium with that atmosphere, it is crazy,” said Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Liverpool spent a club-record £85 million ($107 million) on Nunez just over a year ago, but the Uruguayan has found himself behind Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo in the battle to be Klopp’s preferred number nine early in the season.
Nunez was unleashed from the bench 13 minutes from time and made the most of his opportunity as he was twice released behind the Newcastle defence and kept his nerve to fire low and hard beyond Nick Pope.
“We calmed the game down and brought on Darwin. He was obviously fired up from not starting,” added Klopp.
“It’s clear he’s not happy but it’s early in the season, we need to find stability and results.
“We need to find a way of playing. This is a new team with new key players. It needs time. He scores two goals and can’t get the smile off his face.”
Victory keeps Liverpool two points behind leaders Manchester City and lays down an early-season marker after Newcastle usurped the Reds to secure Champions League football last season.
“We should have put the game to bed and that’s the thing we are kicking ourselves about,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.
