Jurgen Klopp said he did not need to take Darwin Nunez on a lap of dishonour of Liverpool’s training ground as part of his punishment for his red card against Crystal Palace.
The striker apologised after he was sent off for headbutting defender Joachim Andersen in Monday’s 1-1 draw and Klopp said Nunez was aware of his mistake even before he spoke to him.
It was Liverpool’s first red card for violent conduct in Klopp’s seven-year reign and the German admitted he was unsure what to do in such situations, but he did accept that Nunez will face similar provocation in future matches and has to deal with it better.
“Of course I spoke to Darwin and the reaction is like the reaction is in these situations,” he said. “He was very disappointed with himself that it happened.
“The things the centre-half did, he is not the only player in the world doing these kind of things. It is like that, if someone makes a mistake, you tell them they should not do it and: ‘Yeah, I know’.
“It is like emotions. We never had a situation like this before and that is why I am not an expert in these talks because I didn’t need to have it that often. But it was that obvious that he knew it already. He apologised, which is fine.
“It is not necessary to walk him through the building with his head down and miserable stuff like that. It happened. We are human beings. We make mistakes in our life and then you have to carry on.”
Roberto Firmino, who missed the Palace game, is training normally and is fit to replace the suspended Nunez when Liverpool go to Manchester United on Monday.
Naby Keita, who had been ill, is also available while Joe Gomez should start in place of Nat Phillips in defence, but none of Liverpool’s other injured players are back.
