'First thing he connected with all night' - Twitter reacts to Darwin Nunez red card

FT Desk

• Updated: 15 Aug 2022 16:03 CDT
• 6 min read

Darwin Nunez was handed his first Liverpool start in their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Monday, but was sent off inside the hour after head-butting Joachim Andersen.

Referee Paul Tierney was left with no choice but to give the Uruguayan his marching orders after his altercation with the Denmark centre-back.

Nunez had come off the bench to score in the opening day 2-2 draw at Fulham, earning his first start at Anfield ahead of Roberto Firmino.

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After been showing the red card he had to be talked into leaving the field by captain James Milner and then coach Jurgen Klopp.

It was the first red card for violent conduct of the Klopp era at Anfield, and also something of a first for Darwin.

"He's got no history of that at Benfica, he's not been sent off there," said Gary Neville analysing the game on Sky Sports. "It's a learning curve for him."

Fortunately for Liverpool, they subsequently cancelled out Wilfried Zaha's opener through Luis Diaz, but fans online were not quite as forgiving as the Palace defence.

Darwin will now miss Liverpool's trip to Manchester United next Monday, and Reds fans have - perhaps understandably - vented their collective spleen.