A beaming Darwin Nunez was unwilling to go on the record in English after his match-winning heroics against Brentford but an earlier chat, delivered in his native tongue, was still hugely revealing following Liverpool's 2-0 win.

Nunez shuffled out of the Gtech Community Stadium at around 6pm, flanked by Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz, and had only a smile for the reporters who had huddled in their efforts to get a rare conversation with Liverpool's No.9.

"He is the star of today," Mac Allister said, pointing at Nunez in an effort to divert media duties onto his colleague after initially being asked to speak. "He's the one you want."

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Sadly, Nunez was all talked-out having earlier given an unflinchingly honest post-match chat with Sky Sports in Spanish, where he fronted up and accepted that he has - to quote the translation - been "going through a rough patch".

The Uruguay striker was candid in his own appraisal of the season-long performance but vowed that he would "never throw the towel in" when it came to his career on Merseyside either.

“There are moments that are very difficult for us players - for me, it’s right now, but I never throw the towel in,” Nunez said. “I always carry on working in training. If I need to stay to train more, I stay to improve.

“I think the work that I do on the pitch to help the team, to defend as well, I think I’ve always done it well. But I haven’t scored goals and I know people look at that, [because] the striker has to score goals.

“The truth is that I’m going through a rough patch and like I said before, I always stay focused on my job and I’m always going to give everything for Liverpool. It’s really important to keep my head up and to always say: ‘OK, I’ve got to work because I need to improve.’ And I stay strong with this mentality and with the support of my family and of course the fans, who are incredible.”

It was stirring stuff and quotes that helped widen the groundswell of support within the club's fanbase itself. It was also typically bullish and his battling qualities have never been in question during what must so far be deemed a mixed two-and-a-half-year period as a Reds striker.

Nunez's all-action style and his unwavering commitment to the cause have endeared him to many during his time on Merseyside but he has found fewer allies the longer this difficult term has gone on.

The Nunez chants that are so often heard at Anfield have increasingly been aired in recent times as more of a reaction to moments like the clobbering of an opposition centre-back or as a way of rebuilding confidence after a missed chance.

After doubling his goal tally for the season in the Premier League however - with his 91st and 93rd minute strikes in west London - there is hope that the No.9 can belatedly go on the sort of run that he has always threatened to since he joined from Benfica in the summer of 2022.

“Darwin has always had it [in him] in many, many games, he has either come on and scored or he has started and he has been amazing," says Harvey Elliott. "It just sums up who he is, he always fights, he has the determination and grit to keep going.

"As you said, maybe it’s a little bit of a hard time for him, but he shows all the time that it is never a hard time for him, and he always comes up with something. Today was another prime example of it. As teammates and as friends, we are over the moon for him. He deserves it.”

Elliott was not paying lip-service to his colleagues' reaction to Nunez's priceless interventions at Brentford either. The amount of social-media posts from Liverpool players that celebrated their No.9 on Saturday evening laid bare just how much everyone within the squad wants him to succeed at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah, who was one of the first in the squad to publish an image of the pair on their flight back to Merseyside, labelled his Uruguayan team-mate as the player he most likes to play alongside for the Reds earlier this season and their dovetailing has been devastating at times.

Virgil van Dijk says: "I have said to him: ‘Stay calm because you will play again’. What he did today is what we need him to do - to have an impact and score important, big goals.

"As a striker you're judged on goals. Today was important for him with two goals and now it is on to the next. There will always be an opportunity for him to show himself again and be important for the team.

"Yes, he is in a good place. He is still learning. The South Americans help him with the language and everything. He is part of the group and we need him. We are all really pleased with what he did.”

For all the hope that this is a corner turned for a player who could yet cost the club £85m, however, that is all it remains for now: hope. Supporters will be forgiven for feeling they have been here before where their combative centre-forward is concerned.

Three times, in fact, Nunez has scored a winning goal in stoppage time as a Liverpool player, which is a Premier League record of its own. But after memorable efforts against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest last season came the lulls: the loose touches; the snatched shots; the ragged displays.

As you would expect, particularly after such an important cameo off the bench, Slot was effusive in his praise in London. After claiming it was his and the players' job to better service Nunez and utilise his specific skillset better on Friday, the Reds boss followed up with a glowing appraisal on Saturday.

“He is having a good season," Slot said. "He scores goals and works very hard for the team and he assists, but he is in competition with a lot of good players and that’s why he isn’t on the pitch every game. But I’m very happy with him, not just because he scored twice today but with the other performances he scored as well.

“The first goal was a long build-up, the second was a counter-attack. He can score goals against a low block as he is a threat from crosses in the box, he had quite a good chance when Robbo (Andy Robertson) crossed for him."

Perhaps the biggest indicator of where Slot sees Nunez, though, is how he has redefined Luis Diaz's role during the absence of Diogo Jota, whose last start for the Reds came three months ago against Chelsea.

Diaz has been converted from a left-winger to a false 9 in recent months to cope with the absence of Jota and while Nunez has been preferred at times, the inability to nail down a starting place while the Portugal international has been sidelined is telling for both Nunez's performances and how Slot has viewed things.

Slot will argue otherwise but there is a prevalent school of thought that suggests Nunez is playing for his career at Anfield between now and the end of the season. It's something that was put directly to the head coach on Friday.

If that is the case then this was the perfect way to begin the ascent back to the sort of form that had many convinced Liverpool had landed one of the most exciting frontmen that was emerging in European football in 2022.

Nunez's goals arrived as shots number 36 and 37 for the Reds at Brentford but the challenge now is not to produce more of the extraordinary but make the telling contributions appear far more ordinary.