Midway through the first half, with his snood practically concealing his face in the Liverpool dugout, it was hard to believe Darwin Núñez was braced for battle in filthy conditions. But he arrived off the substitutes’ bench to register a sublime winner to earn Jürgen Klopp’s side a spot in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. Justin Kluivert cancelled out Cody Gakpo’s first-half strike with a simple finish of his own but Núñez’s solo effort was worthy of settling any game.
Liverpool have been something of a winning machine this season so for Klopp the biggest decisions centred on how strong to go against a team in the same division. Mohamed Salah is usually spared these kinds of tests but started just his fourth Liverpool game in this competition to wear the armband in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, among eight changes and one of those who dropped to the bench.
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