DARWIN NÚÑEZ

Núñez! Núñez! Núñez! He’s a goalscoring, assist-making, chaos-creating handful for every defence and one of those players you simply cannot take your eyes off. Liverpool FC’s no.9 arrived from SL Benfica in the summer of 2022, scored a debut goal in the FA Community Shield success against Manchester City FC and made his 50th goal involvement for the Reds (33 goals, 17 assists) in his 87th appearance when he flicked a corner on for Luis Díaz to score in the 2-2 Premier League draw against Manchester United FC at Old Trafford. Born in Artigas, Darwin began his career with Club Atlético Penarol in his home nation of Uruguay where the current champions are…

LIVERPOOL FÚTBOL CLUB

Formed in 1919, the Montevideo-based club named themselves after Liverpool Football Club due to cultural links between both cities, which explains how Liverpool FC play in Uruguay every week! Coal was shipped from Liverpool Docks to the Uruguayan capital at the time, but the club opted against copying our famous red shirts, instead playing in blue and black stripes at their 10,000-capacity Estadio Belvedere. Last season, Liverpool Fútbol Club won Uruguay’s Primera División for the first time in their history to succeed previous champions Nacional, who had won the 2023 league title by beating Liverpool FC 4-1 with two goals scored by…

LUIS SUÁREZ

So skilful he could nutmeg a mermaid, yet so controversial he could start a riot in a graveyard, Luis Suárez was so good for Liverpool FC during his 133-game, three-and-a-half season spell between 2011 and 2014 that some Kopites regard him as the best player they’ve seen in a red shirt. Born in Salto, and both mesmerising and unpredictable on the ball, Suárez scored 82 goals, created 29 more and his record of 31 goals in 33 Premier League games in season 2013/14 almost won LFC the title and landed Suárez the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards. Still playing at Inter Miami CF aged 37, he left Anfield for FC Barcelona in the summer of 2014 after playing for Uruguay in the FIFA World Cup where he struck twice in a 2-1 win against England, a fixture previously scored in by Liverpool FC winger and legend…

JOHN BARNES

If you weren’t fortunate enough to see John Barnes in his pomp for Liverpool FC between 1987 and 1991 then go find him on YouTube - he was one of the best in the world. Graceful, fast, strong and skilful, Barnes had the balance of a ballerina and could dribble around defenders like they were traffic cones. He scored 108 goals and got 101 assists in 407 appearances for the Reds and is now an LFC ambassador, but back in 1990 is also remembered for rapping on New Order’s ‘World In Motion’ - England’s FIFA World Cup Italia ‘90 anthem. Barnes played in the tournament as England reached the semi-final and before that scored his 10th goal for the Three Lions in a 2-1 friendly defeat to Uruguay at Wembley. FYI, England have only beaten Uruguay once in the last six meetings and that game was played at…

ANFIELD

With Wembley being rebuilt between 2000 and 2007, England played home games around the country and on 1st March 2006, Sven Göran-Eriksson’s men took on Uruguay in an Anfield friendly as part of their FIFA World Cup 2006 preparations. A crowd of just over 40,000 saw Omar Pouso give the South Americans the lead, but that was cancelled out in the 75th minute when Liverpool FC striker Peter Crouch scored his first goal for England after coming on as a substitute. And it was a future LFC player who got the Anfield winner, Joe Cole netting in the 93rd minute of a game that also featured Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, who five years later played alongside Uruguayan centre-back…

SEBASTIÁN COATES

Born in Montevideo and of Scottish descent, Coates captained the youth teams of boyhood club Nacional at every level before breaking into the first-team aged 18. He won Primera División titles with Nacional in 2009 and 2011 and after helping them to reach the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores - South America’s Champions League - signed for Liverpool FC, aged 20, in 2011. Coates only made 24 appearances for the Reds and is best remembered for scoring an acrobatic scissor-kick volley against Queens Park Rangers FC at Loftus Road. Now aged 33, he has played for Sporting Club de Portugal since 2015 and is has just captained them to a second league title in four years. He has also been capped 51 times by Uruguay, for whom he plays alongside…

DARWIN NÚÑEZ

At the age of 25 there is a lot more to come from Núñez and Jürgen Klopp believes that the Liverpool FC striker is yet to reach his peak in a red shirt. “He had absolutely more than an okay first season, but he had to adapt. That's done, and he is settled in the middle of the team,” said the Reds boss. “He loves to play for this team together with these boys and has quality coming out of his ears, to be honest. Is he at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us. But can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes.” Whether he goes on to surpass Suárez to become Liverpool FC’s all-time leading Uruguayan goalscorer remains to be seen, but whatever happens you can guarantee one thing when Darwin Núñez is on the pitch - it’ll be lively!