Darwin Nunez releases emotional Liverpool statement after deleting 'loser' post

Uruguay international Darwin Nunez has spoken out after his huge missed opportunity in Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Wednesday night

Liverpool's Darwin Nunez has pledged to keep fighting at Anfield after his costly miss in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

The Uruguayan striker, who came on as a substitute, failed to convert from close range, sending Dominik Szoboszlai's cross over the bar when the match was tied. His miss drew criticism, but head coach Arne Slot expressed more concern about Nunez's work rate during his press conference on Thursday morning.

Despite the backlash following the game that saw Liverpool extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points ahead of Arsenal, Nunez took to social media on Thursday morning to share his determination.

Sharing a photo of himself from a previous victory against Brentford, he wrote: "I was not the best three weeks ago nor am I the worst now. If I fall, I get up. You will never see me throw in the towel. I will give it my all until the last day I am here in Liverpool. Resilience!"

Earlier, Nunez had posted a more explicit message, which was later removed: "Two or three weeks ago, Darwin was the best, Darwin gave us three points, but yesterday I had the bad luck of missing a goal and now I am once again the "worst" and the loser."

Liverpool boss Slot is planning to have a word in Nunez's ear,, reports the Liverpool Echo. He said: "It is not the chance but the 20 minutes afterwards that I will talk to Darwin about."

Slot insisted that Nunez will not be defined by the one big miss, saying: "Yes, I will tell him that [he still has a major part to play] as well. I will tell him that you can miss a chance but you cannot miss out on work rate."

Slot explained: "That is the life of a striker, he will miss chances and score some. It is part of the job of a No.9, you miss when people expect you to score. It is not part of the job of a No.9 to slow down in work rate. And that is something we will talk about.

"I can accept every miss, especially from a player who scored two very important goals away at Brentford and that scored for us in the home game against Villa. I would prefer him to score but the word 'chance' says it all. It is a chance and not 100% [certain] that it goes in."

The Dutchman was disappointed that Nunez let that miss affect his performance: "I can accept misses but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance. It got too much in his head. He was not the usual Darwin who works his backside off and makes sure he helps the team. He was too disappointed he missed that.

"I always truly believe it is always best to have Wata's (Wataru Endo) mindset. For the whole season he does not complain, keeps on going and keeps on going, whenever we need him he is ready. That is very difficult and there are not many players that can do this."

Nunez has bagged a total of six goals across all competitions for the Reds, with just four of those strikes in the Premier League.