The Uruguayan was involved in an altercation with Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen during his side’s 1-1 draw on Monday Night Football. It brought an early end to his first Premier League appearance at Anfield – and less than 24 hours after the incident put Liverpool in danger of defeat, the player took to social media to address his supporters. “I know the bad attitude I had,” Nunez said in a post translated from Spanish. “I’m here to learn from my mistakes and it won’t happen again.” Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville called Nunes’ red card a “moment of madness”, while Jamie Carragher deemed the situation a “nightmare” for Liverpool. Luis Diaz earned a 1-1 draw for Liverpool after Wilfried Zaha’s first-half goal gave Palace the lead during the match and Nunez foolishly reacted to a shove from Andersen. Neville said Nunez could have no complaints about the red card, but sympathized with the Uruguay striker for the “moment of madness” he was in as a player when he completely lost his head. He said: “It’s a crazy moment. He’s a proper butt, Andersen will feel that. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player FREE WATCH: Highlights from Liverpool’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Crystal Palace “We don’t know why he did it. I’ve done two or three things like that in my career. We don’t know why we react. We have no idea. We go and think ‘what did I just do – Honestly. I kicked a ball at a fan at Everton and did something similar in a game against Steve McManaman. It’s that red mist. It’s coming to you. “When you get kicked out like that, it’s the loneliest place in the world. You might have a man in a costume with you, but it’s horrible. You’re in this locker room and your teammates are out on the field. “You’ve let them down and you feel so bad. You don’t have to say much to a player who’s been sent off as it’s awful anyway and they take the blame. I’m sure he would have gone to the dressing room to apologise. The rest of the lads in that dressing room would they take him as he is a good dressing room.’
Carragher: A nightmare for Liverpool and Klopp
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher: “It’s a nightmare start for him as a player at Liverpool, it’s a nightmare for Jurgen Klopp as he tries to fit him into a new team. It wasn’t about tonight, the problem is how long it will take until he’s back in the team as he probably he will only be on the bench after the suspension to get up to speed, so it could be five or six weeks before we see him back in the Liverpool line-up.”
Klopp: Nunes should not behave like this
Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Crystal Palace defender Joachim Anderson baited Darwin Nunes into being sent off, but admitted Nunes’ reaction was wrong. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: “I’ve seen it before, that’s a red card of course. He was challenging all the time, but he shouldn’t have acted like that. “I’ll talk to him, there’s no point in me talking about it too much in public. It’s not the reaction you want to see. Premier League centre-halves will do that to him, he’s a handful himself.”
“Nunes will learn from the red card”
Liverpool midfielder James Milner: “I did not see the incident [Nunez’s red card]. He will be disappointed by this. We must surround him and rally. He will learn from it. The team reacted well and the ground made and stayed behind us. We could have violated it, but it was not to be. Good teams react to disappointments and stick together. You see the readiness for the season and the race. We had a difficult week and the preparations were not ideal. No one can deny that we have a fighting spirit. “Sometimes you need a moment of brilliance and when you have players like Luis on the pitch, he can create something out of nothing. It was an incredible goal. Hopefully there will be many more.”
What’s next?
The next game for Liverpool is huge as they make the short trip to Old Trafford to face winless Manchester United on Monday Night Football next week. Crystal Palace are in action before that as they host Aston Villa at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
