Luis Suarez fires warning to Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez after red card
Former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has warned Darwin Nunez that Premier League defenders will target and try to antagonise him more often after his red card against Crystal Palace.
The Uruguayan was involved in a ding-dong battle with Joachim Andersen at Anfield on Monday, with the Palace man pushing and shoving Nunez around whenever possible.
The needle between the two came to the boil just before the hour when Andersen shoved Nunez in the back as the ball came into Palace's penalty area.
Nunez's instinctive reaction was to try and thrust his head back into Andersen, and when the ball rolled out of play, the Denmark international confronted the £64m signing about his actions. Liverpool's new striker then inexplicably headbutted Andersen to earn a deserved red card from Paul Tierney.
The 23-year-old now misses Liverpool's clash with arch-rivals Manchester United on Monday, and Suarez - a player well known for losing his temper when playing for club and country - has warned his fellow countryman that he'll have to get used to being targeted by defenders.
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“Because he is just starting out and so he is aware, from now on [opponents] will be seeking him out twice or three times more often," Suarez told Telemundo. “Even more so in England, he’s hearing this from an idiot who make mistakes and suffered for them, but falling down and getting up again made me stronger."
Suarez's advice to Nunez was to simply not get involved, and he added: “Don’t give them any more chances, it’ll only get worse.
“Darwin is someone who listens a lot. He is very smart that way and I think he will try to turn this situation around, it’s not a big deal, we have all made mistakes, we have all been sent off.
“The problem is that he’s only just arrived over there and in England, to put it lightly, they make a big deal out of everything.”