Andy Robertson has insisted that it is unfair that Darwin Nunez is constantly compared to Erling Haaland.
The Uruguayan scored his sixth goal for Liverpool in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Ajax but Haaland has already struck 22 times in his brief Manchester City career.
They were the two biggest striking signings in the Premier League in the summer but Robertson feels Nunez should be judged on his own merits and said Nunez, who is averaging a goal every 106 minutes for Liverpool, has an impressive record of his own since his £64million arrival from Benfica.
He said: “The only reason they are getting compared is because they play in the same position and moved in the same window. It is not fair on anyone. If it was vice-versa, it would not be fair on Haaland either. So look, they are two incredible players and we are delighted to have Darwin here. He is still young which everyone forgets and in front of goal he has been really clinical.”
Nunez’s time at Liverpool has been interrupted by a three-match suspension after he was sent off his on home debut for headbutting Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen and missed Saturday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest with a minor hamstring problem but now has four goals in his last five appearances.
And Robertson added: “He has maybe not played as many minutes with the three-game ban, a couple of injuries and he is still adapting but he is getting there. Against Ajax, you could really see what his threats are and he caused them a lot of problems and they were already worried about him.”
Nunez also missed an open goal in the Amsterdam ArenA but Robertson feels that motivated him to find the net afterwards, when he headed in the Scot’s corner.
He added: “It is a big miss at the end of the first half but good strikers react. He was really disappointed at half-time but he used that disappointment to his advantage in terms of being angry and wanting to be in front of goal again and he did not shy away from that and scored an unbelievable header which is what good strikers do. It was good to bounce back, go again and get the goal he needed to help the team.”
Nunez has had difficulties understanding some of his team-mates and Robertson explained: “There is a language barrier but you can see he is a nice guy. He is trying with his English and you respect that so much.”
Victory in Amsterdam ensured Liverpool booked their place in the last 16 with a game to go, despite beginning their campaign with a 4-1 thrashing at Napoli.
Jurgen Klopp admitted Ajax were the better side in the first half-hour on Wednesday but Robertson felt Liverpool showed their resilience to progress.
The Scotland captain said: “We had a poor start in the group stages - it could not get much worse away to Napoli - but we have recovered really well and put in good performances at home to Ajax, the double header with Rangers and now away to Ajax. We knew it would be tough. It was about standing up to it.
“In Europe, you always have these difficult moments. We are against a team that had to win the game and started with intensity and high energy but we matched that. We weathered the storm, kept it to 0-0 and then created some chances.”
