Darwin Nunez leaves Liverpool teammates in STITCHES with a dig at his season so far

Darwin Nuñez can hardly seem to catch a break.

A 14-appearance goalless streak was finally brought to an end with a simply sublime 18-yard effort from the right side of the penalty area off the far post and in against Bournemouth last weekend. And whilst he didn’t score in his second straight start, he was afforded 90 minutes in Liverpool’s 5-1 League Cup win over West Ham.

But with the release of the EA FC 25 video game - the no-longer-legally-named-FIFA series - has come another opportunity for comparison with his peers. And, despite his 82 rating, he's still not happy.

Read more: Curtis Jones SURGES past former 'best player' in Arne Slot's plans

As can be seen in the video Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Alexis Mac Allister - Mate drink in hand - are beside themselves after Darwin quips that his lower rating is because he's spent 'five of seven games on the bench'. Even Darwin himself manages to break out into a smile. Diaz’s rating on the game is 84, Jota's 85 and Mac Allister's 86, meaning that Darwin falls rather short of his boys. Whilst it was certainly tongue in cheek, it's clear Darwin isn't too happy about his current playing time under new manager Arne Slot.

For those unaware, every player in the game gets an ‘Overall’ rating out of 99 based on a combination of other statistics that their characters are afforded, such as Speed, Strength, Shooting, Passing and Defending. All of these are based somewhat on their real-life ability, although of course there is a bit of the arbitrary about these figures.

It can make for some hilariously good players to play with in the game. Readers in their mid-20s or older will probably remember Brazilian striker Adriano in Pro Evolution Soccer 6, the 2006 iteration of the football series that rivals EA’s output, having a shot power rating of 99. It made the Inter Milan side that Adriano played on basically unstoppable.

Liverpool’s highest-rated players on this year’s iteration EAFC are Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah, all sharing an 89 overall. New signing Federico Chiesa’s 93 Pace rating is the highest individual rating of any Liverpool player on the game.

Dominik Szoboszlai had his opinions on this too, saying that if he and Chiesa were to have a race that he would beat the Italian wearing his slides. The two will certainly share the pitch at the same time this season so we may have an answer to that before we know it.

Kylian Mbappé, Rodri, Aitana Bonmatí and Erling Haaland all share the highest rating on the game with 91.

Have fun playing, if you choose to do so. And just make sure you get those contracts signed early.

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