Klopp impressed by Darwin’s early evolution against Manchester City

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was impressed by the impact Darwin Nunez had coming off the bench to turn the Community Shield in his side's favour against Manchester City.

The 23-year-old Uruguay striker, who could become the club's record signing if all the elements of his £85million summer deal with Benfica come to fruition, was introduced with 30 minutes to go and produced an impressive cameo.

He won the late penalty from which Mohamed Salah put the Reds 2-1 up and then stooped to head home in added time to seal a 3-1 win in Leicester on Saturday.

But he also caused Ederson a few problems, drawing the City goalkeeper into a challenge which would probably have resulted in a penalty were it not for an offside flag in his very first attack, and then forcing the Brazil international into a goal-denying save.

"It was good, it was really good. It is clear it will get better with time," said Klopp.

"We live in a world where everybody gets judged on first sight and that's not helpful for anybody but it happens constantly.

"In the first few games (of pre-season) we were not even close to the fitness level of today and then when he came on, we passed each ball for him to chase it and after the third ball he was completely killed and then everybody judged his first touches and these kind of things.

"It's just a joke but we have to live with that, he will deal with it brilliantly. We are patient and we know he can do good stuff.

"We all know they are a special species, strikers. The other thing everybody needs (are) little positives. That means goals, or goal involvements.

"I think Darwin would have been fine even without scoring the third one because the penalty was Millie's (James Milner’s) cross and his header.

"The chance he had before he did really well, but Ederson reacted brilliantly. The goal was obviously the icing on the cake, so really pleased for him.

"You could see in his face, you could see in the face of all his team-mates how happy the boys are for him and that's a really good sign after that short period of time that he is with us."

Liverpool has earlier taken the lead when Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot was deflected in by Nathan Ake.