Luis Diaz injury issue clear for Liverpool after ‘biggest disappointment’ proven right
Luis Diaz’s Liverpool season can basically be cut up into two halves.
The first interval centres round an electrical winger who was the Reds’ finest participant within the first couple of months of the Premier League marketing campaign. While Jurgen Klopp’s facet struggled to place behind them the looming spectre of the earlier 63-game time period, Diaz was one in every of few whose efforts didn’t drop.
A beautiful solo effort at dwelling to Crystal Palace in August saved the 10-man Liverpool from an early Anfield defeat earlier than he contributed two targets in a 9-0 battering of Bournemouth later that month. An excellent strike was little greater than a comfort in a 4-1 defeat at Napoli in early September as he registered 5 targets within the opening month of the time period.
A knee injury sustained in a problem with Thomas Partey throughout a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on October 10 all however ruined his season, nevertheless. After forsaking days off in favour of additional rehabilitation work on the membership’s AXA Training Centre, Diaz seemed to be on the cusp of a post-Christmas return having reported for obligation on the membership’s mid-season journey to Dubai.
He broke down in an early session out within the Middle East, although, and was instantly flown dwelling to bear surgical procedure on Merseyside, successfully ruling him out for an extra three months.
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“He is not in the best possible place [mentally], that is clear,” Klopp advised the ECHO in Dubai after his facet’s 3-1 loss to Lyon. “It was an enormous disappointment for all of us and him as nicely. It was a nothing scenario in coaching, truthfully.
“And he felt something, he didn’t feel it a lot the next day but we wanted to be really cautious. So we said: ‘come on, let’s have a proper look’ and then the news came which was a proper smash in the face, but that’s it now.”
In complete, Diaz missed over six months of soccer, lastly returning to the group in mid-April as a late substitute within the 6-1 hammering of Leeds at Elland Road. Two extra cameos adopted in victories over Nottingham Forest and West Ham earlier than he was given his first begin in 203 days in opposition to Tottenham later that month.
Diaz took simply 5 minutes to reopen his account for the season, well ending off a cut-back to make it 2-0 in a wild recreation that finally completed 4-3 to the Reds. Three extra begins got here in opposition to Fulham, Leicester and Aston Villa however there had lengthy been a normal acceptance that the Colombia worldwide wouldn’t present his finest kind as soon as extra till subsequent season after a full pre-season schedule.
It stays a serious case ‘what if’ the place Diaz’s season is worried. Liverpool had been robbed of a potent attacking weapon for far too lengthy and had been left to rue his absence alongside Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino throughout a very tough January.
Had the previous Porto winger been match for the complete time period, top-four hopes won’t have evaporated as they did however the onus is on him now to get again to the form of kind he readily displayed previous to that setback on the Emirates again in October. A completely-fit Diaz will probably be important to success subsequent season.
End-of-season score: 6
Alisson Becker score
Trent Alexander-Arnold score
Ibrahima Konate score
Darwin Nunez score
Virgil van Dijk score
Andy Robertson score
Fabinho score
Mohamed Salah score
