Shock as Darwin Nunez proves he can actually play football at Liverpool after four-goal haul – The Warm-Up

FRIDAY’S BIG STORIES

Four for Nunez

Pre-season was already getting too much with the hourly updates of Manchester United’s tour under Erik ten Hag, but what took the biscuit was Troll Twitter going into overdrive over a couple of Darwin Nunez clips during training and in the recent friendly against United.

Before even kicking a Premier League ball the pile-on had started on Liverpool’s summer signing, baseless hyperbole swirling around, labelling Nunez a flop just hours into his life as a Liverpool player based on the fact he wasn’t sticking every chance presented to him into the top corner.

Turns out a professional footballer who represents his nation and is scoring at a rate of a goal every other game throughout his career so far can actually play football after all. Who’d have thunk it, and, of course, Jurgen Klopp hit the nail on the head afterwards.

“They are all completely normal human beings and the first touch is not perfect then all of a sudden…” Klopp said. “This generation of players read social media, which is really not smart, but they do. All of a sudden you get in a rush and these kinds of things.

“That’s the best way obviously to stop all these discussions. He’s a different striker to what we have or what we had, but he’s a really good one.”

Grand. Let’s all put that one to bed then, shall we.

Last four for Germany

They’ve been there, done that, bought the T-shirt as the eight-time winners of this competition, but after the 2017 quarter-final exit this current crop are well and truly out to restore the normal order – the order that saw them win the event on six straight occasions from 1995 to 2013.

Who would bet against them? Well, they could take some stopping, for despite riding their luck at times with Austria hitting the woodwork three times, Germany could have put the game to bed themselves last night on a couple of occasions before they got a helping hand from Austria’s goalkeeper.

A semi-final against the Netherlands or France awaits, making for a blockbuster showdown either way, but when push comes to shove, the Germans could be difficult to budge.

Forest making moves

After leaving Manchester United for pastures new, the belief was that a return to West Ham was on the cards, the club that helped restore to England international level – but alas, he has chosen newly-promoted Forest…

Why?

Just to complicate matters further, others have claimed Lingard is on £115,000 a week, with add-ons set to make that soar.

Anyway. Good luck to him. Onwards.

IN OTHER NEWS

Stingy Neuer?

Did you hear the one about the taxi driver trekking 75-odd miles to return Manuel Neuer’s wallet that contained around 800 euros and was then furious about receiving *just* a jersey as a thank you?

Well, if you didn’t, we’ve basically told the gist of the story, but it’s glorious nonetheless.

IN THE CHANNELS

Chris Kirkland, former England and Liverpool goalkeeper, admirably doing the rounds to discuss his addiction to painkillers. All you can say to that is well done for speaking out.

RETRO CORNER

Twenty years since Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United. That makes me old, but as the tweet says, the rest is history.

COMING UP

The third Euro 2022 quarter-final! And tonight we find out which team England will face in the last four next week… Sweden or Belgium? Follow our blog tonight to find out.

And don’t forget the Tour de France – down to the final three stages!