Darwin Nunez breaks silence after Liverpool boss Arne Slot tore into his ‘unacceptable behaviour’ following his horror miss against Aston Villa

Darwin Nunez has promised to give his all until his last day as a Liverpool player in a defiant response to criticism following his horror miss against Aston Villa. 

The Uruguayan wasted a golden opportunity to put the Reds in front at Villa Park, inexplicably missing an open goal shortly after coming on as a second-half substitute. 

Liverpool were made to settle for a 2-2 draw and missed the chance to go 10 points clear of Arsenal, who now have a game in hand. Nunez has been slammed by fans and former Reds players for squandering the opportunity, and was even publicly admonished by his manager Arne Slot for his attitude after the miss. 

But the 25-year-old has finally broken his silence on the incident and pledged to continue fighting for the club as they bid to claim major honours this term.  

‘I wasn’t the best three weeks ago, and I’m not the worst now,’ he wrote on X. ‘If I fall, I get up. You’ll never see me give up. I’m going to give it my all until the last day I’m here in Liverpool. Resilience!’

Earlier this month, Nunez was the match winner for the Reds with two late goals in a 2-0 win over Brentford. But Wednesday’s miss looked to have eroded all the confidence and goodwill that came with those heroics. 

The Uruguayan had the chance to give the visitors the lead heading into the last 20 minutes of the contest 

Liverpool boss Arne Slot said that he could not accept Nunez’s behaviour after missing the chance

On Thursday, Slot insisted that he could not accept Nunez’s behaviour in the latter stages of the match in a public scolding of the striker. 

‘A miss that I can accept,’ said Slot. ‘What is harder to accept, his behaviour after the chance. That miss is got too much in his head where he is the usual Darwin that works his a** off.

‘I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance’.

Nunez appeared to be particularly frustrated at the final whistle.

In a video taken at full-time, Liverpool’s players could be seen walking towards the travelling fans at Villa Park and applauding them.

However, the camera panned across the pitch to show the 25-year-old trudging off on his own. The caption read: ‘I can accept missing open goals but Nunez was strolling most of the time he was on. Shocking attitude’.

Another wrote: ‘He’s done. I don’t like that attitude post match at all.’

Meanwhile, Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler called the effort ‘one of the worst’ misses this season.

The striker offered a defiant response to his critics on Thursday after his shocking miss

Nunez was Liverpool’s match winner when they earned a hard-fought 2-0 win over Brentford earlier this month

‘He doesn’t think about the game enough,’ Fowler said on TNT Sports. ‘If you’re struggling for confidence you’ve got to go back to basics.

‘You’ve got to get the ball, touch it, play it five yards. Play the simple things. You always need to go back to basics and do the simplicity of being a footballer.

‘He doesn’t think does he? It’s a bad miss, it’s a really bad miss – up there with one of the worst we’ve seen this year.

‘Szoboszlai maybe should have shot himself, but he’s played a great ball to him and he’s missed the target, criminally, from eight yards. That can’t be happening.’

Nunez has endured a difficult campaign for the Reds, scoring just six times across 35 appearances in all competitions. He was linked with a big-money to the Saudi Pro League in January, with reports that Al Nassr were close to agreeing a deal in excess of £62million for him before turning their attention to Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran.

The Reds are likely to try and offload the forward, who they signed for a club-record £85m from Benfica in 2022, this summer to pursue a more clinical striker.