Jurgen Klopp has explained why he brought Darwin Nunez off during the second-half of last night’s clash with Real Madrid despite Liverpool being in need of three goals and the Uruguayan being one of the Reds’ bright sparks at the Bernabeu.
The ECHO’s Paul Gorst was left baffled by the decision to replace the former Benfica man with Bobby Firmino just before the hour mark.
Our No. 27 had twice tested Thibaut Courtois during the first half and looked like our biggest threat at the top end of the pitch before he was replaced alongside Diogo Jota – substations that Klopp was asked about in his post match press conference.
“For Diogo, it was clear that he should not play now extremely long because he is still coming back from a long, long injury,” the German explained (as quoted by Liverpool World). “You could see the game got harder and harder for him, little fouls there, one, two, three, he is not a player who is usually fouling so perhaps he comes a bit late. So, no risk with him and we have options on the bench.
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“Yes, Darwin looked like he was not on the absolute top level as well and then we need to defend that side as well because conceding a goal is not helpful in that situation. Yeah, we can change there, that’s why we did it. We wanted to mix it a little bit, that’s true.”
In all honesty, it was a pretty toothless performance from us in the Spanish capital but to replace Nunez when we’re in need of goals was a huge surprise.
He had been our brightest spark during the first half and our performance was an even flatter one once he left the pitch.
We’re not back in action now until April 1, when we travel to the Etihad to face Manchester City, which makes the decision to replace the Uruguay international even more bemusing.
Many of the lads will now turn their attention to international duty but let’s hope they return back full fit ahead of a ‘decisive’ run of games when they return.