![\"Darwin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_GettyImages-2231954204.jpg\")
Former Liverpool star Darwin Nunez is off to a flyer with new club Al-Hilal(Image: Abdullah Ahmed\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nDarwin Nunez left Liverpool this summer after three seasons and now can’t stop scoring for new side Al-HilalFormer Liverpool star Darwin Nunez is off to a flyer with new club Al-Hilal(Image: Abdullah Ahmed\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez sparked Al-Hilal’s fight-back in their AFC Champions League opener against Al-Duhail on Tuesday night, scoring his second goal in as many matches for his new club.<\/p>\n
Al-Hilal began their continental group stage against the eight-time Qatari champions and found themselves a goal behind after 37 minutes. The Saudi outfit regrouped at half-time and it was Nunez<\/a> who levelled the tie up in the 57th minute of play.<\/p>\n The ex-Liverpool<\/a> No.9 waited patiently in space that was left open in the penalty area. His shot may have looked mishit into the turf, but the bounce of the ball proved deceptive to the opposition goalkeeper.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Alexander Isak isn’t the only player who could make Liverpool debut against Atletico Madrid<\/a>READ MORE: Jones, Isak, Mac Allister – Liverpool injury latest and return dates ahead of Atletico Madrid clash<\/a><\/p>\n Former AC Milan full-back Theo Hernandez completed Al-Hilal’s victory with a volley from the edge of the 18-yard box roughly 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n Liverpool made the decision to part ways with Nunez this summer<\/a>. In the three seasons since his \u00a364m arrival from Benfica, the Uruguayan scored 40 times in 143 appearances in all competitions.<\/p>\n His first two seasons under Jurgen Klopp<\/a> – although coming with criticism – saw a steady incline to his contributions in front of goal as Liverpool won the Community Shield and Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n Arne Slot<\/a> then took over before the 2024\/25 campaign and the club went on to lift the Premier League<\/a> title, although Nunez saw his role diminish under the new head coach, scoring only seven overall and not starting a match in the last three months of the season.<\/p>\n His \u00a343.3m sale to Al-Hilal<\/a> went through and it would seem the striker has not looked back, scoring three in as many pre-season fixtures before making a statement of intent with strikes in his latest two competitive appearances for his new club.<\/p>\n Nunez looks like a player who is thriving without the pressures of top-level European football.<\/p>\n As he and others departed Slot’s title-winning team over the summer, the Reds went out and recruited extensively. That included the arrival of two centre forwards.<\/p>\n The first was Hugo Ekitike<\/a>, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for \u00a379m. The 23-year-old went on to net in his first three competitive appearances for his new club and also added an assist to his record in that run of matches.<\/p>\n He has continued to lead the line for Slot’s side since, whilst \u00a3125m deadline day signing Alexander Isak<\/a> waits for his opportunity to play.<\/p>\n The former Newcastle United man was held back from playing against Burnley on Sunday, though Liverpool have confirmed his involvement<\/a> in the squad for Wednesday night’s Champions League<\/a> match against Atletico Madrid at Anfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a> \u00a349<\/p>\n \u00a335<\/p>\n Sky<\/p>\n Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n For the latest news and breaking news, visit liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/liverpool-fc<\/a>. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.<\/p>\n Follow us on Twitter<\/a> @\u200cLivEchoLFC<\/strong> – the official Liverpool ECHO LFC Twitter account – for all the latest LFC news as it happens in real time.<\/p>\n We’re also on Facebook<\/a>\/LiverpoolEchoLFC – your must-see LFC news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Liverpool ECHO.<\/p>\n Listen to our podcasts by searching for ‘Blood Red’ wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n Sign up for one of the Liverpool Echo’s free daily and weekly newsletters on Liverpool FC<\/a> by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darwin Nunez left Liverpool this summer after three seasons and now can’t stop scoring for new side Al-HilalFormer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,8904,393,4884,179,763,8467,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-430550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-darwin-nunez","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-fc","14":"tag-uefa-champions-league","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115218253367095824","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755048431_935_0_Sky-Factbox.jpg\")
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