‘Special species’ - Jurgen Klopp makes Darwin Nunez claim after Liverpool win Community Shield

Jurgen Klopp told of his delight for Darwin Nunez after he stole the headlines in Liverpool's Community Shield triumph over Manchester City.

The Reds claimed the first piece of silverware of the season with a 3-1 win against the Premier League champions at the King Power Stadium.

Nunez, who signed for Liverpool for up to £85 million earlier this summer from Benfica, has come in for some flak during pre-season.

But after coming on as a substitute, he won the penalty for Mo Salah's decisive goal against City before wrapping up the win with an instinctive header.

And with strikers being a ‘special species’ Klopp feels Nunez can take plenty of confidence from his official Liverpool debut.

What’s been said

The Liverpool boss said: “Definitely . We all know, [they are] special species, strikers.

“Everyone needs little positives and for strikers, that means goals or goal involvement.

“I think Darwin would have been fine without the third one because of the penalty, it was Millie’s cross and his header.

“The chance before, we did really well but Ederson reacted brilliantly.

“The goal was the icing on the cake. I was really pleased for him, you could see on his face and on the faces of his team-mates, how happy the boys were for him.

“That’s a really good sign after that short period of time that he’s been with us.”

‘A really nice watch’

Liverpool started on the front foot and took the lead through Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 21st minute.

City hit back in the second half when new-boy Julian Alvarez netted from close range.

But Salah’s penalty and Nunez’s header ensured the Reds won the final trophy that had eluded them during Klopp’s tenure.

Klopp was happy with Liverpool’s performance as they gear up for their Premier League curtain-raiser against Fulham next Saturday.

He added: “Everything, I liked the whole game. We are that early [in the season], I like the problems we have in a game, especially when you win. I really like the problems because you have to work on that.

“I know we have to work. We said it before, we have to extend our pre-season at least for two more weeks.

“There’s no other chance. We cannot just now go in the normal rhythm, play games at the weekend that we are not prepared for. Then three games a week which we will have from, I don’t know exactly, from three or four weeks.

“So, it was for me a really nice watch. It is the most difficult opponent you could get. They don’t get worse, or whatever, they just strengthen and improve and develop and you see the squad, the boys they could bring on.”