Jurgen Klopp reveals 'outstanding' Liverpool player who was suffering cramp before Fulham win

Jurgen Klopp hailed the impact of 'outstanding' Darwin Nunez in Liverpool's victory over Fulham.

The Reds are now just 90 minutes away from Wembley after earning a 2-1 Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg win at Anfield. Yet it was not all plain sailing for the home side, with Willian opening the scoring for the Cottagers in the 19th minute.

It wasn't until Klopp introduced Nunez and Cody Gakpo in the 56th minute that Liverpool seriously burst into life. Nunez ran amok and assisted Curtis Jones' equaliser before then his cross from the byline engineered Gakpo's intervention. The Uruguay international also had two efforts well saved by Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.

Nunez would have started the tie had he not suffered cramp after last weekend's 2-0 FA Cup victory at Arsenal. And his cameo was lauded by Klopp. The Liverpool manager told reporters: "He plays outstanding, I have to say it. So many things I really love about the game. The first year was the year to adapt and he scored here and there. But now the contribution in games... he would have started tonight but he had cramps in the last game, so three days later you don't start a player. The boys don't start or not start because they score or not score. My belief and my trust in them is – as long as they behave properly – endless because they just deserve it because of the effort that they put in.

"That you can bring Cody and Darwin from the bench, that's a proper change. And we changed, on top of that, system and formation and set-up. All of a sudden the high press was not organised anymore, we had problems there, we tried to fix that from outside and then all of a sudden protection was not [there] because we changed a couple of things. But the offensive situations were much better, it's good – he's a big part of that."