Liverpool supporters have taken an immediate shine to Darwin Nunez following his summer transfer from Benfica, and it seems as though the feeling is mutual.
The Uruguayan forward served notice of his intent with the Reds when he bagged four goals in a pre-season friendly against RB Leipzig earlier this month, but he followed that up with a match-winning cameo performance off the bench in Saturday's Community Shield victory over Manchester City.
After Trent Alexander-Arnold had put the Reds in front in the first half, Nunez appeared as a replacement for Roberto Firmino with just over half an hour remaining at the King Power Stadium.
However, he and Liverpool were soon to see another new face in the Premier League, Manchester City's Julian Alvarez, level the scores at 1-1 with a close range finish.
Nunez then took over though, and after his header was handled by Ruben Dias in the box to give Liverpool a penalty converted by Mohamed Salah, the big forward then wrapped up the win with a close range header in stoppage-time.
The goal sparked wild celebrations from Nunez, who removed his shirt and raced towards his adoring new fanbase.
The 23-year-old has already made an image of that celebration his new Twitter header picture, while he also shared several celebratory posts after the match.
His mood was in stark contrast to City new boy Erling Haaland, who missed three presentable opportunities - including a last minute sitter - and looked very rusty on his first competitive start for the club.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hailed Nunez's display, and rounded on critics of his performances in pre-season.
"It was good, it was really good. It is clear it will get better with time," said Klopp. "We live in a world where everybody gets judged on first sight and that's not helpful for anybody, but it happens constantly.
"In the first few games (of pre-season) we were not even close to the fitness level of today and then when he came on, we passed each ball for him to chase it and after the third ball he was completely killed and then everybody judged his first touches and these kind of things.
"It's just a joke but we have to live with that, he will deal with it brilliantly. We are patient and we know he can do good stuff.
"We all know they are a special species, strikers. The other thing everybody needs (are) little positives. That means goals, or goal involvements.
"I think Darwin would have been fine even without scoring the third one because the penalty was Millie's (James Milner's) cross and his header.
"The chance he had before he did really well, but Ederson reacted brilliantly. The goal was obviously the icing on the cake, so really pleased for him.
"You could see in his face, you could see in the face of all his team-mates how happy the boys are for him and that's a really good sign after that short period of time that he is with us."
