Darwin Nunez Scores Four Goals as Liverpool Halftime Substitute in Preseason Win

Núñez made an instant impact as a substitute vs. RB Leipzig in a preseason friendly.

Darwin Núñez put in the kind of performance on Thursday that will make Liverpool fans feel awfully good about their star summer signing.

The Uruguayan forward came off the bench after halftime and scored four goals over the final 45 minutes in Liverpool’s 5–0 preseason rout of RB Leipzig. A day after Sadio Mané unofficially opened his account for Bayern Munich, his purported replacement made a statement of his own.

It started with a penalty kick, which Mohamed Salah, scorer of Liverpool’s first goal, offered to Núñez to take. That seemed to open the floodgates for the former Benfica sensation, who scored his second just three minutes later after being played in behind with a short layoff pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold and finishing from inside the Leipzig box.

He completed his hat trick after Liverpool forced a turnover deep in Leipzig’s end, redirecting in a cross from six yards out to give Liverpool a 4–0 lead in the 68th minute.

Time to enjoy @Darwinn99's first-ever hat-trick for the Reds ⚽⚽⚽ pic.twitter.com/vztvgVwHzx

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 21, 2022

As if that wasn’t enough, he capped his performance with a fourth, curling in a low shot (that trickled in off the goalkeeper) after fellow new arrival Fabio Carvalho set him up with a run forward in the 90th minute.

It is, of course, only preseason, but it’s a good way for the 23-year-old to build his confidence entering his first season in the Premier League, with high expectations attached to the $75 million fee Liverpool paid to sign him.