Liverpool’s recruitment team would have given themselves another big pat on the back on Tuesday night as their latest marquee recruit Luis Diaz played a crucial role in helping the Reds secure their third Champions League final appearance in five years.
Jurgen Klopp’s men headed into the half-time break at Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday night shook up after surrendering their 2-0 advantage from the first leg. However Diaz, who replaced Diogo Jota at the break, was instrumental in inspiring the Reds to another Champions League comeback.
The £50million January signing scored the crucial equaliser as part of a manic 12 second-half minutes when the Reds found the back of the net three times, however his influence in the game went way beyond just his goal.
Almost instantly, he arrived like a tornado and caused havoc down Villarreal’s right side. Inside 15 minutes he’d attempted more shots than any other Liverpool player and had managed more touches than Jota did in the whole of the first period. His explosive entrance sparked his Liverpool teammates into life, and left-back Andy Robertson spoke about the ‘big difference’ he made to the game in his post-match press conference.
“He’s a special, special player”, said the Scottish international. “The talent he has, and the will to win and everything, he just fits us perfectly. He came on and made a big difference, he played on the left and started pushing them back, taking the ball and dribbling, it was a really good half from him.”
Diaz's display also blew away large parts of the Spanish media. Jordi Arches of Mundo Deportivo stated that the Liverpool attacker “Ended the dream, stepping onto the pitch and changing everything” while Feargal Brennan from Football Espana felt Diaz turned “Liverpool from night to day”.
“From the first moment he made an appearance on the pitch, Luis Diaz tried to changed the dynamics of the goalkeeper. He did not come out unscathed from the four internships that he tried on the left wing against the firmness of Juan Foyth, but he was not satisfied. His mobility in attack give them the opportunity to start the comeback,” said Brennan.
Diaz’s quality can be captured in his underlying numbers from the night. No player made more successful dribbles (four) or attempted more shots (four), while only Naby Keita made more progressive carries (five).
Beyond his threat on the ball, he was also instrumental in helping create openings for Liverpool's other attackers who had been suffocated for much of the first half by the hosts. Careful not to allow the Colombian too much space in which to punish them, he very quickly started being followed and marked tightly by the home side.
And selflessly, Diaz often manipulated these situations with good movement, pulling defenders with him to create spaces for his Liverpool teammates to exploit. We saw a good example of this in the build-up to his goal.
Initially, each of Diaz, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are tightly marked inside the Villarreal half. Diaz though starts to pull away and push the two Villarreal defenders back as they track his movement. This in turn creates an opening in the middle for Keita to receive a pass and combine with Mane.
While he wouldn't have shown it publicly, it's likely that Diaz would have been disappointed to have found himself on the bench on Tuesday night. However, his game-changing second-half display should surely mean that he’ll avoid a similar disappointment at the Stade de France later this month.
