Núñez, Liverpool hero after goal in injury time, demolishes Nottingham Forest | first division

Jürgen Klopp's long bear hug with Darwin Núñez at half-time underlined the magnitude of a seemingly priceless and potentially crucial moment in the Premier League title race, but it was far from the only lasting image. And certainly not from a Nottingham Forest perspective. Immediately afterwards, there was a wild picture in sight.

Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner who was on the pitch throughout, followed referee Paul Tierney down the tunnel, expressing his anger and expressing bewilderment at more decisions going against him. Mark Clattenburg, recently hired by Forest as a referee analyst consultant, explained why the club felt so aggrieved after being denied entry to the referees' locker room. By this time, Steven Reid, Forest's first-team coach, had already been sent off for complicating the point.

This match only came to life in second half stoppage time. Then, 36 seconds into the initial eight minutes of added time indicated by fourth official Graham Scott, chaos ensued. Núñez, who arrived to a standing ovation on the hour mark, jumped high to receive a cross from Alexis Mac Allister and generated enough power to head the ball inside the post.

Almost two minutes earlier, Forest was outraged. Tierney, according to Ifab laws, mistakenly delivered the Liverpool Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher received the ball to restart play despite Callum Hudson-Odoi having possession of the ball outside the Liverpool 18-yard box after a collision between Kelleher and teammate Ibrahima Konaté. Liverpool argued that Tierney made the same mistake in the first half, but without the same implications.

Liverpool will also argue that a lot happened between that moment of controversy and the moment Núñez overtook Neco Williams, the former Liverpool defender, to extend his team's lead at the top to four points, with champions Manchester City not in action until Sunday. The ball went out of play, for example.

After the goal, Klopp was harassed by Adrián, the third goalkeeper who had a place on the bench in the absence of Alisson, and the rest of Liverpool's substitutes flooded the field.

For Forest, who deserved a crucial point in their fight to avoid relegation, it was a completely demoralizing end to a frenetic finish. By the end this game had turned sour, Tierney headed down the tunnel to a wall of boos from the angry home support.

Forest had defended valiantly for so long that the 21-year-old duo of Murillo and Andrew Omobamidele were determined at centre-back. Murillo almost without realizing it sent the ball to Matz Sels over his right shoulder from a corner in the 95th minute, but the Forest goalkeeper, who arrived in January, thought he had earned a point.

For a long time, at the end of Klopp's long farewell at Liverpool, it seemed that, in the future, this would be one of the few grounds he could not consider a happy hunting ground. Ryan Yates, the Forest captain who went on all fours at the final whistle, made a magnificent block to deny Nunez stoppage time. Liverpool's last league win here was in 1984, when Ian Rush and Ronnie Whelan scored.

Nuno Espírito Santo, with his arms crossed, stood disconsolately on the edge of his technical area as the Liverpool bench emptied onto the pitch.

Klopp made four changes to the team he beat Southampton and reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup midweek, with Konaté, Mac Allister, Andy Robertson and Luis Díaz returning to their starting lineup. Bobby Clark made his first top-flight start in a three-man midfield alongside Joe Gomez and Mac Allister, but was replaced by Nunez after an hour.

For Klopp, there were a couple of familiar faces in the Forest XI: Williams, who spent 15 years on the books at Anfield, and Divock Origi, forever a Liverpool cult hero after his goals on the way to lifting the Champions League in 2019. Another came from the bench: Taiwo Awoniyi, who scored the only goal in this match last season. It was Williams and Origi who combined seconds after kick-off, forcing Virgil van Dijk to concede a corner.

It wasn't a classic Liverpool display, but there was a feeling that Forest were waiting for the visitors to turn the screw. Omobamidele deflected a Robertson shot away from goal after Nicolas Dominguez prevented Conor Bradley's cross from landing at Diaz's feet at the penalty spot.

Núñez stretched his legs on his first touches, chasing down the left wing, but Omobamidele followed him to the goal line and then fired into the side netting. Núñez, however, had the last word.