4 months ago
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Photo by CHRIS ARJOON/AFP via Getty Images
The legendary manager of Uruguay thinks talking about Darwin’s finishing is silly and that you should stop worrying about it.
Liverpool and Uruguay striker Darwin Nuñez is one of the most talented and impactful forwards in world football and a generation chance creator. When he’s on the pitch for club or country, they’ll always create more in attack.
Few would try to argue against that. Many, though, would argue the Artigas-born attacker then struggles to convert chances at an acceptable rate. But Marcelo Bielsa, the legendary manager of Uruguay, thinks that’s dumb.
“All players who are consistent goal scorers know how to finish,” Bielsa explained. “But then they are also human and so they will have times where that capacity will be more evident and other times when it is less evident.
“Darwin is a player who does not need much support. The only thing that concerns me is whether he gets in positions—which he does extraordinarily—to score, impact games, finish the moves, choose where to place the shot.
“In the last two games for Uruguay he scored four goals [but] for me that has no importance. If he scores, he scores; if he misses, he misses. But does he know how to impact a game? He knows how to impact a game.”
Given it would take a brave fan—some might say foolish or use even stronger language—to think they’ve got a better read on what makes a good striker than one of the game’s all time great managers, that’s good enough for us.
After sweeping aside Panama in their first Copa America game, Uruguay play Bolivia tonight before rounding out group play against the United States on Monday, with the South Americans favourites to top Group C.
