Darwin Nunez comes in from the cold to deliver Liverpool crucial win in title race
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In another era, in another kind of football, Darwin Núñez might be the type of unconventional striker who would be a cult hero at a smaller club, but at Liverpool in 2025, when the margins are so tight at the top of the Premier League and every player must earn his place, he can often feel like a man on the edge of things.
This time, it was the 91st minute, and Liverpool’s 36th attempt of the afternoon on the Brentford goal that fell to Núñez’s feet. A substitute coming into a team that started without an orthodox No 9, Núñez had just two Premier League goals all season as the clock ticked down past 90 minutes. By the final whistle he had doubled that total with two goals which won the game for Liverpool and may have changed the course of the title race. These are the afternoons that signpost the way for title-winning teams and this one belonged to Núñez.
He had been on the pitch almost half an hour by then – and Arne Slot had played all his cards. Not just Núñez, but Harvey Elliott, and even Federico Chiesa were called off the bench to try to win this game. Some other angle of attack was required, some fresh trajectory that might break what had been a determined effort by the home side to keep Liverpool out. Slot’s players had clipped the bar, they had run through 13 corners without success, they had landed six shots on target. What they needed was a moment to decide it all – and that was what Núñez would provide.
The Uruguay international did not start despite the absence of Diogo Jota through injury, with Slot preferring Luis Díaz in the central striker role. The Liverpool manager had previously complained of the difficulty that Núñez, with nine goals in 11 months for Liverpool before this game, felt playing against the low block. After this match-winning performance, Slot said that Núñez’s season had been perfectly decent despite the lack of goals. The Liverpool manager asked that performance be judged independent of results – and that the 37 attempts on Brentford’s goal would be unprecedented for an away side in this stadium this season.
