Darwin Nunez scored twice off the bench as 10-man Liverpool rallied from a goal down to defeat Newcastle 2-1 at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
Anthony Gordon had capitalised on a Trent Alexander-Arnold error to put the Magpies ahead before Virgil van Dijk was sent off for pulling down Alexander Isak within half an hour.
Newcastle, though, failed to capitalise on their man advantage and were punished when Nunez produced two rare moments of greatness in his Liverpool career to turn the game on its head.
Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, said, “With 10 men in my history, 1,000 games (as a manager), I have never had something like that. At Newcastle, in this stadium with that atmosphere, it is crazy.”
Liverpool spent a club-record £85 million ($107 million) on Nunez just over a year ago, but the Uruguayan has found himself behind Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo in the battle to be Klopp’s preferred number nine early in the season.
Nunez was unleashed from the bench 13 minutes from time and made the most of his opportunity as he was twice released behind the Newcastle defence and kept his nerve to fire low and hard beyond Nick Pope.
Victory keeps Liverpool two points behind leaders Manchester City and lays down an early-season marker after Newcastle usurped the Reds to secure Champions League football last season.
Newcastle boss, Eddie Howe, said, “We should have put the game to bed and that’s the thing we are kicking ourselves about.”