Darwin Nunez could do little more than heap praise on Liverpool shot-stopper Alisson Becker after the Reds dumped Benfica out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
The Reds eventually progressed as 6-4 aggregate winners, but Benfica refused to go down without a fight and actually did what so many sides have failed to do and avoided defeat at Anfield with the second-leg ending in a 3-3 draw. Nunez is a man in-form and played as such, bagging himself a goal in both legs of the contest.
However, it was an attempt on goal that did not go in that had him talking after the full-time whistle had blown in Merseyside, as the Uruguayan international was left stunned by the brilliance of the Brazilian between the sticks for Liverpool. Alisson has come to his side's rescue so many times this term and did so again against Benfica.
Nunez was lingering on the edge of the Reds penalty area before a cross was looped in his direction - the 22-year-old carefully watched the ball fall from the sky before guiding what looked to be a perfect right-footed volley into the bottom corner. His effort was thwarted by Alisson who managed to get down quick enough to parry it away for a corner.
After the game, Nunez admitted he thought his strike was destined for the back of the net before Alisson's intervention. "That Alisson save? That was incredible. I swear to you, I saw the ball going in.. and then it wasn't," he explained to Sky Italia.
Nunez could well be facing Liverpool more often next season given the amount of interest he is attracting from the Premier League. All three of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are thought to have thrown their respective hats in the ring to try and entice the forward.
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The striker certainly answered questions that were raised of him by ex-Reds forward and BT pundit Peter Crouch before the contest. "He certainly is the one to watch in this side, Rafa Silva will be a huge miss because he creates so much for Darwin Nunez, but there has been big noises about him for a while and he has delivered. He has got 31 goals this season and he’s banging them in," he explained.
"He’s big, he’s strong, but he is also quick and mobile and he has scored a lot of big goals against some big teams in the Champions League so I think, the question always is if you score a lot of goals in Portugal, can you replicate it."
Nunez has since proven he can replicate it with ease as the Uruguay international has hardly struggled at finding the back of the net in Europe.
