Woodwork-happy Darwin Nunez sets all sorts of new records

It was a frantic first game at Anfield on Wednesday as Liverpool raced to a 4-1 win over Chelsea. However, for Darwin Nunez, it was particularly eventful.

The Uruguayan was especially trigger-happy in the opening 45.

He might have got more purchase on his lob in the fifth minute, which was easily saved by keeper Dorde Petrovic, but he worried the keeper much more with his following effort, which grazed his fingers and then the crossbar.

His next clear chance came in the 17th minute when his left-footed volley was pushed onto the post by Petrovic.

Penalty miss

However, his best chance came in first-half stoppage time when his penalty, won by Diogo Jota, came back out off the post after he sent the keeper the wrong way.

This was Nunez's first penalty miss of his career. After 12 successful spot-kicks in his senior club career so far, number 13 proved to be an unlucky omen for the 24-year-old.

Records aplenty

However, the woodwork-themed game for the Reds' number 9 didn't end there.

With 15 minutes left to go, Nunez rattled the goal frame for the fourth time with a powerful header, setting a new Premier League record.

In doing so, as noted by Squawka, Nunez also became only the third player have hit the woodwork more than three times in the same Premier League game in the last eight seasons, following in the footsteps of Leandro Trossard (against Manchester United in 2020) and Timo Werner (against Southampton in 2022).

Overall, this means he has hit the woodwork more than twice as many times (with eight) as any other player in the league this season (as per OptaJoe).

Suarez comparisons

Perhaps more interestingly for Liverpool fans, Nunez is the first player to hit the woodwork as many as 10 times in a season for Liverpool in all competitions since Luis Suarez in 2013-14 (as per Michael Reid). That particular Uruguayan also hit the goal frame 10 times.

And look how things turned out for him...