It was not quite the mid-season break Luis Diaz would have wanted.
While his Liverpool team-mates who aren't at the World Cup have been making the most of their time off with jaunts to destinations like the Maldives, Dubai and Las Vegas, the Colombian international has instead been on Merseyside, working hard on his rehabilitation.
Diaz has been reporting to the AXA Centre in Kirkby for individually tailored sessions and extra gym work in an effort to ensure he is ready to return when the Reds get underway on their mid-season trip to Dubai this week.
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There have been plenty of long, lonely hours put in by Diaz over the past few weeks as he aims to get back to full fitness having not played since suffering a knee injury at Arsenal in early October after a clash with Thomas Partey in a 3-2 defeat.
Such has been Diaz's dedication that he even left a number of supporters in a shock when a routine tour of the facilities at the AXA Centre last month ended with them all crossing paths with the former Porto winger midway through an indoor session. It was the welcome surprise that wasn't advertised when they began the informal outing after an LFC Foundation event earlier that day.
Prior to the injury, Diaz had arguably been Liverpool's best outfield performer at a time when Jurgen Klopp's side were struggling for consistency during a miserable opening few weeks of the campaign.
In his absence, Liverpool have slowly put together a few results that at least gives them a fighting chance at a top-four tilt in the second half of the campaign. Important victories over Manchester City, West Ham and Tottenham were recorded but there were also the nadirs of defeats to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.
Everything is on course for Diaz to be back in action this week when the Reds touch down in Dubai ahead of their friendlies with Lyon and AC Milan on December 11 and 16, respectively.
His availability comes at an opportune time for Klopp as Liverpool prepare themselves for what will be a massive second half of a campaign that has gone nowhere near according to the plan so far.
With Diogo Jota still sidelined, the £50m wideman will be vital going forward and the work undertaken over the next couple of weeks will be imperative to him returning to the sort of form he has shown consistently since he joined the club at the end of the January transfer window.
“Luis definitely [will be involved], if everything goes to plan,” assistant boss Pep Lijnders told Liverpoolfc.com last month. “We can’t wait to see him back, he is this player who smiles when he has the ball at his feet."
Should everything continue as planned, he will be cleared for play a part in the friendlies for what has been dubbed the Dubai Super Cup.
Jota's own rehabilitation will also continue in Dubai too. The Portugal international is not yet fit enough to be considered again after his serious calf injury in the closing stages of the 1-0 win over Manchester City on October 16, however.
It's been a frustrating six months or so for Jota at Anfield with his season yet to truly get going after a hamstring problem that was reaggravated on the club's pre-season tour of Thailand in July.
Having scored 21 times for the Reds last term, the former Wolves man was rewarded with a new contract for the exemplary form he had shown during the two years he had been at Anfield, but he has struggled to get back to those levels this term.
After making his comeback as a late substitute in the goalless draw with Everton in September, Jota has only been able to make seven appearances across all competitions and is without a goal since April's 2-2 draw with Man City at the Etihad.
"It's really not good news," Klopp said when he gave his initial update on Jota in October. "Yes he will miss the World Cup. Pretty serious injury in the calf muscle and now the process starts. That's it pretty much.
"All the rest will now follow in the next few days. Very sad news for the boy, for us as well and for Portugal... I don't want to put a timescale on it. It will be a long time. He's surprisingly okay so far, a smart boy and he knew it when we carried him off. At that moment he knew it."
Jota himself posted at the time: "After such a good night at Anfield (against Manchester City) mine ended in the worst possible way! In the last minute one of my dreams collapsed. I will be one more supporting from the outside, club and country and fighting to be back as soon as possible. You'll Never Walk Alone."
He won't be cleared for a comeback in Dubai but a change of scenery will be of some benefit as he uses the same facilities at the Nad al Sheba Complex that Virgil van Dijk did during his own convalescence in early 2021.
Liverpool chose the UAE for a handful of reasons. Club officials were hugely impressed by the level of facilities on offer back in 2018 when they made a mid-season trip after an FA Cup win over Everton, but it's the logistics of where the World Cup is being held that is the major deciding factor.
General manager of first-team operations, Ray Haughan, explored the merits of two venues last year before a setting in South Africa was eschewed in favour of the NAS Complex.
With a flight from Qatar, where the World Cup is being held, lasting just over an hour, it made more sense for the club to move to a base in the Middle East, to save from further long-haul flights.
After over three weeks of down-time, the hard work starts again for Liverpool this week. No more so than for Jota and Diaz.
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