After a run of five games in 15 days, Liverpool might benefit from no longer being in the FA Cup. Arne Slot’s side got a well-earned extra rest, but in the absence of the Reds, there has been no shortage of talking points this weekend —not least Matheus Cunha.
Cunha scored a sensational goal to draw Wolves level in their tie against Bournemouth on the south coast. Firing into the top corner from 30 yards with a perfect strike, he canceled out Evanilson’s opener.
But right at the end of extra time, with 120 minutes on the clock, Cunha punched, kicked and headbutted his way to a sending-off with a moment of complete headloss. The referee, Sam Barrott, could have shown three red cards to the Brazilian forward with no assistance from the VAR needed, though the furious player took an age to agree to head down the tunnel.
“Cunha’s been sent off for a full house,” Paul Merson said on Sky Sports. “He gets called offside, he goes to try and get the ball back off him. They’re all round him, so he punches Milos Kerkez, he goes down, kicks him, he gets up and then he headbutts him.
“Full house, whole lot. The ref goes and gives him a red card, he cannot believe it. A little kick and then he gets up and it’s a headbutt. He’s arguing with the fourth official as well.”
Former Tottenham defender Michael Dawson was heavily critical of Cunha too. “Is he stupid?” he asked. “We talk about how talented he is, doing that, that is ridiculous.” On Match of the Day, Martin Keown said he hadn’t seen anything like it on a soccer field “since the 1970s”.
(Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“In the end another game where you did your best. I couldn’t lose my head at the end. Sorry,” Cunha posted on Instagram once he had calmed down. But this is a player who turns 26 before the summer, so he is not inexperienced. He should know better.
This is not the first time, either. Earlier in the season, Cunha served a two-match ban for clashing with Ipswich Town security staff — after which he apologized and paid to replace a steward’s broken glasses.
Cunha has 19 goal contributions — 15 goals and four assists — for a struggling Wolves team this season. He signed a new deal at Molineux last month, but with the new agreement containing a $78m (£62m/€75m) release clause, the Brazilian is surely assessing his options. Purely in terms of his ability, there will be plenty of them.
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Liverpool, in some quarters, have been touted as a possible destination. He scored, of course, in the game between the Reds and Wolves at Anfield a couple of weeks back, and generally impressed with his link-up play, his pressing and his finishing. Even for a team that is languishing low down in the Premier League table, he looks like a Champions League-level talent.
With doubts remaining over the future of Darwin Nunez, Liverpool might well need another number nine in the summer. Cunha, though, in addition to being slightly above the age that would usually be targeted, has just shown why he would be a massive risk. With an explosive side like that, it feels pretty unlikely he would be the chosen pick.
