Nunez and Gakpo are young talented players. They have been recruited into the team after long planning. Now these two players are not playing well. They are also missing out on easy opportunities. As they gradually become more experienced, their performance may stabilize. But Liverpool's match strategy also has problems with Jurgen Klopp not doing his job properly.
Perhaps Liverpool is still missing Sadio Mane. Liverpool's biggest mistake this season was deciding to sell Mane without finding a suitable replacement. And because of this mistake, Liverpool's situation is still unstable.
When Nunez and Gakpo arrived at Liverpool I had no doubts that they will immediately make an impact in the team but until now the team is still struggling to win games or even get a draw. Their last game ended in a 3 nil humiliating defeat to Wolves, I think the pressure on Klopp is increasing and drawing close, if the poor results keep coming then I doubt seeing Klopp continue as Liverpool coach until the end of the season
Liverpool were not in good condition when they faced Real Madrid in the Champions League, even though Real Madrid's results were also unsatisfactory in La Liga a few previous matches, the Liverpool trio at this time had not developed at all and even had difficulty scoring goals in the Premier League. The quality of Liverpool's play this season is quite different when Mane was still at Liverpool, if you pay attention to last season the number of goals scored by Muhammad Salah is indeed extraordinary, but now Salah's sharpness in scoring goals has disappeared even from 10 matches he was only able to score 4 goals.
While Darwin Nunez and Gakpo are unreliable by Jurgen Klopp, because they don't have much experience playing in the Champions League and even in the Premier League they haven't adapted well in the main squad. I think Liverpool will struggle to face Real Madrid in the last 16, even though the first leg will be at Anfield.
Real Madrid are in better shape than Liverpool, I can barely recognise this current Liverpool team this season. Real Madrid are also not so good, their la liga performance hasn’t been that great but I believe they will step up in the Champions league competition, I will be expecting a win from Real Madrid in that fixture.