Jurgen Klopp has backed Benfica star Darwin Nunez to have a big career in the game.
And the Liverpool boss also reckons the Uruguayan also has the looks to be a star. Klopp will be hoping Darwin doesn’t add to the strike he scored against the Reds last week.
The Merseysiders lead Benfica 3-1 ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final second leg. But Darwin showed why he has some of Europe’s big guns - including Manchester United - chasing his signature this summer with a second-half strike.
The Uruguayan has scored 29 goals this season already which has also brought interest from Barcelona. Kop manager Klopp was asked about the striker by Portuguese media ahead of the Champions League clash.
And he was impressed by his first-leg showing when he went toe-to-toe with Reds defender Ibrahima Konate. He said: “An extremely good looking boy eh?! He is a really good boy - he played in front of me battling against Konate.
“He was calm for the finish. He is good, really good. If he stays healthy, he has a big career ahead of him.” Darwin may have already been at Barcelona if the club’s hierarchy listened to Luis Suarez, who was still at the Catalan giants in 2019.
Who will Darwin Nunez be playing for next season? Let us know your thoughts hereHis compatriot was playing in Spain’s second tier with Almeria but the advice was not taken on and he made the switch to Benfica in 2020. Now Europe’s top clubs look set to fight it out for him this summer if they can convince the Portuguese club to let him go.
Liverpool will be looking to keep Darwin quiet when they meet at Anfield on Wednesday night. The Reds are hot favourites to progress to the Champions League last four. But Klopp has warned against complacency ahead of an FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Saturday.
The German wants to make sure Anfield is bouncing and his players make it a nightmare trip for the visitors. He said: “The bad news for Benfica is that it's Anfield. They don't just play against us, they play against the whole crowd!
“We want to be the one team no-one wants to play against. We hope to be that team tomorrow night. It's 3-1 at half-time. It's as tricky as 2-0. We saw against Inter how one goal can change things.
“We want Benfica to feel like they don't want to play at Anfield. We need to be angry in a good way and be ready for these kind of things. I hope we are."
Klopp has a clean bill of health for the clash but may make some changes with the Cup semi-final in mind. But he added: “The next game has absolutely no influence on the game tomorrow night but the one before it does.
“So we have to see. We have a really intense schedule. There is nobody injured as far as I know at this moment but we need to have a look at who is fresher for this game and stuff like this.
"We see this as a super-important game and I know we won the first leg 3-1 which means to people who have nothing to do with the game that we are halfway through and then we play City left and right of the game so the focus is somewhere else. We see it slightly differently to be honest.
"This is a super, super important game for us. And it is like we said last season, we tried so hard to get to the Champions League and now we can make to the semis which is incredible and that is what we want to show tomorrow night that it means a lot to us.”
