Uruguay national media deliver verdict on Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez’s performance after they crash out of Copa America 

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Liverpool star Darwin Nunez’s Uruguay are out of Copa America 2024 after losing to Colombia in the semi-final.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were the favourites to win the competition along with Argentina, but they suffered a really disappointing defeat late on Wednesday night.

Colombia took the lead through Jefferson Lerma in the 39th minute of the game but they went down to 10 men just before half-time.

Everyone expected Uruguay to come out and turn the game around, but they failed. Now, Colombia will face Argentina in the final.

Nunez will be back at Liverpool for pre-season.

How Uruguay’s national media reacted to Darwin Nunez’s display vs Colombia

Darwin Nunez divides opinion every time he gets on the pitch.

The Liverpool striker has incredible potential. He possesses all the skills you would want from a centre-forward, but he can be so frustrating at times.

Nunez equalled a near-100-year record after scoring in Uruguay’s first two Copa America games, but he hasn’t found the net in any of the last three fixtures.

Against Colombia on Wednesday night, the Liverpool star had two huge chances to score – one with his left foot and another with his right – but he missed both opportunities.

The game would’ve been completely different had either one of his chances gone in, but Uruguay can only wonder what would’ve happened.

Following their elimination, Nunez’s performance was reviewed by a couple of Uruguayan media outlets.

La Diaria wrote: “He had two and he missed them; could’ve been a different story if one of them went in.”

El Observador gave him a 5/10 rating and wrote: “He had the opening and the clearest (chance) at 16 minutes after a huge pass from Federico Valverde. They had taken him by the arm, he hit it with his left and the ball went just outside.

“Five minutes later he showed his power again with another shot, this time, from the right, to the far post. He appeared again at 27′ with a shot that went high. They couldn’t handle him.

“But, in the second half, they overcame him very well and he was unable to break even, falling into a football hole.”

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Terrible Nunez stat shows his biggest problem

Nunez came under a lot of criticism in the 2023/24 season even though he directly contributed to 31 goals in 33 starts in all competitions.

That’s because of the amount of opportunities he squandered almost every week. Nunez missed 27 big chances in the Premier League last season, which was the second-worst record in the entire division.

In the Copa America, Nunez played in all of Uruguay’s five games and had 20 shots at goal – more than any other player in the competition. However, only two of them ended up in the back of the net (Opta Analyst).

That is Nunez’s biggest problem, and if he doesn’t improve his conversion rate next season, it will be very difficult for Liverpool to justify keeping him at the club.

It will be interesting to see how much Arne Slot can help Nunez to improve in the 2024/25 season.