The Spanish press went crazy with a new presentation of the most important Colombian of the moment. This was demonstrated by EFE agency with the peasant’s analysis after the victory of Liverpool in Champions League.
This was his outstanding balance in the first duel of the semifinals:
There was no footballer on the field with more enthusiasm than Luis Díaz. There was no player with more courage when it came to facing, looking for Villarreal and trying to get the ball into the net.
The Colombian made one of his best games with Liverpool and it was the great nightmare of Juan Foyth and his team. He was left without the goal, but there was no one more smiling than Díaz at the end of the match. Sheathed in a long Liverpool coat, the Colombian was hugged by Rhys Williams, one of the team’s youth players, while Jürgen Klopp went one by one thanking his players.
The plan to put Diaz at the start had gone well for the German coach. This was only the second ownership of Barrancas with the Liverpool shirt in the Champions League, but it did not shrink. In front of The Kop he dared to do something that he normally doesn’t look for, out of sheer generosity. Three times he cut inside and three times he looked for Rulli’s goal. A statement of intent.
The Colombian was the way to unclog the defensive line that Villarreal had installed in the front. When it wasn’t a dribble, it was a shot or a game changer. His band was the hottest for much of the match. The yellow attention turned to him, so that in the second half Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah entered more easily on the other and the two goals of the ‘Pool’ fell. Diaz stayed inches from his.
The Colombian soccer player, as if he were levitating, was capable of dribbling over an inch of land and with the lightness of weighing just over 20 kilos. It was a feather jumping on the grass of Anfield. But his shot went off licking the stick. A play in which he was alone in the area, he made a feint to give the ball to a teammate to the left of him and, as if it were a golf club, he used his right hand to look for the thread. The ball did not go in, but Klopp, aware of the level and condition of the Colombian, even decided to change Sadio Mané before him.
His match ended at 81 minutes, when the myth Divock Origi replaced him. The curtain closed on Díaz and a smile opened on his face, that of knowing that against Villarreal he played his best game as ‘Red’.
