Darwin Nunez recreates Luis Suarez wondergoal from 2011 as red hot form continues

Liverpool beat Bournemouth 2-1 in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday thanks to a Darwin Nunez wondergoal.

The 24-year-old is in the form of his life and is beginning to prove his critics from last season wrong. The fans that kept the faith and saw the signs are really enjoying see Nunez blaze a path for himself at Liverpool.

He has performed at a top level consistently this season but took his form to a new level with the finish he produced from outside the box on Wednesday evening.

Not only was it a really aesthetic finish, but it bears the hallmarks of a different goal from another Uruguayan 12 years ago.

Darwin Nunez scores almost identical to Luis Suarez goal from 2011

In 2011, Luis Suarez silenced a rowdy Stoke City home crowd in the then-named Carling Cup with a sumptuous curler from outside the box.

In true Suarez fashion, the former Liverpool striker nutmegged the defender before bending it out of reach of the Stoke goalkeeper.

On Wednesday, Nunez has emulated his forebear with a strike that a legendary striker like Suarez would be proud to have in his own collection of wonder goals.

After being booed for a poor touch, Nunez ran at goal, cut inside before whipping the ball into the net from range.

This side-by-side clip from the Anfield Watch perfectly captures the similarity between the two goals.

With his strike, Nunez unwittingly managed another similarity to Suarez's goal from 2011 by granting Liverpool access to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Suarez did the same in 2011, scoring a brace to complete a 2-1 comeback against to send the Reds into the last eight of what is now referred to as the EFL or Carabao Cup.

If Nunez can match Luis Suarez heights, he will be incredible

It remains to be seen but if Nunez can continue his development and reach the same heights Luis Suarez did in his time at Anfield, then Klopp has some player on his hands.

Even if he doesn't, he seems destined for great heights.

Last season, Nunez battled to find consistency and perhaps needed time to adjust to the relentless intensity in the Premier League.

There's no denying his talent but sometimes players simply need a grace period to acclimate to playing in the most competitive league in the world. He's now showing signs of being ready to permanently lead the Liverpool front line.

Suarez wasn't an instant success either although he did not have the glittering array of talent around him that Nunez does have.

Nunez 2023/24 stats for club and country are frightening 

After a slow start in his first half-season at Liverpool (he joined in the 2011 January window), Suarez burst into life in his second, but first full season. He scored 30 goals and provided 13 assists that season.

Nunez now has 10 goals and 8 assists this season for club and country.

It seems to defy logic so here's a table detailing the tournaments in which he has scored or assisted this season for Liverpool and Uruguay.

In total, Nunez has been directly involved in 18 goals for club and country and is well onto making this his breakout season for Liverpool.

Six goal contributions in FIFA World Cup qualifiers is impressive but even if you take out his international goal contributions (after I already excluded his two goals in intl. friendlies), he still has helped create or score 12 goals in 14 games for Liverpool alone.

Simply amazing.

It's too early to compare him to Suarez and in many ways, he shouldn't be. He's a very unique player and fortunately, he's perfectly suited to Jurgen Klopp's style of play.

With age on his side, the sky is the limit.