Darwin Nunez Liverpool 2022-23Getty Images

The Darwin show! Liverpool winners, losers and ratings as Nunez delivers and Firmino bounces back from World Cup snub

The Darwin Nunez bandwagon is gathering pace at Anfield. The form of Liverpool's £64-million ($72m) man has been on an upward curve for a while now, and it reached a new high here, as the Uruguayan scored twice to ensure the Reds signed off for the World Cup in style, with a 3-1 win over Southampton.

Nunez now has nine goals in as many starts for his new club, and his all-round performance here was comfortably the best he has produced since his summer switch from Benfica. His goals were well-taken, instinctive, first-time finishes from inside the penalty area, and on another day he'd have had a pair of assists too, setting up Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah for chances which Gavin Bazunu saved.

Firmino, left out of the Brazil squad for Qatar this week, had opened the scoring after just six minutes with a fine glancing header from Andy Robertson's free kick, only for Che Adams to hit back almost immediately from a James Ward-Prowse delivery.

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Nunez, though, had Liverpool in control by half-time, first finishing off Harvey Elliott's lovely pass on the volley, and rounding off a sweeping move by sliding in to bury Robertson's low cross.

That proved to be the end of the scoring, although Liverpool needed Alisson Becker to make a series of fine saves in the second half to preserve their advantage, and ensure that Nunez was the matchwinner.

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