You can’t say Luis Díaz wasn’t involved. The Liverpool forward had everything but the finish against Manchester City, producing some truly breathtaking moments but ultimately shouldering a lot of the blame for two dropped points.
As ever, Liverpool fans should take their lead from Jürgen Klopp, who was broadly delighted with Díaz’s efforts. Before the game, Klopp had urged his Liverpool team to try everything — chase every ball, close down every passing lane, and ultimately leave it all on the line. Nobody epitomized that more than Díaz, whom Gary Neville on commentary likened to the Duracell Bunny.
One particularly eye-catching moment saw Díaz take on both Kyle Walker and Rodri — and win. Precious few players beat Walker on his own in these one-versus-one battles, but the pair of them were left chasing shadows, and Klopp loved it.
“You see a situation when Luis Díaz against [Kyle] Walker, who is officially the fastest [player] in the Premier League, I think they said that recently, and Rodri, and he gets out of that. It’s absolutely incredible!” said Klopp, via the Liverpool website. “So, the boys really wanted it, a really good performance, massive heart, sensational atmosphere, one point. Let’s keep going.”
Heart and desire made the second-half performance possible. Pep Guardiola described the Liverpool onslaught as a ‘tsunami’ in that most dominant period — and while Díaz happened to be the one to miss the chances, Manchester City would not have been so on the ropes in the first place without his efforts.
So while frustration is inevitable, Díaz should not be assessed too harshly. And perhaps he has been fortunate in that regard, because much of the anger has instead been trained in the direction of Michael Oliver and Stuart Attwell, after the referee and VAR combination failed to spot a clear late penalty for a foul on Alexis Mac Allister.
But Díaz could easily have been at the heart of refereeing controversy as well, stemming from the very run which Klopp loved so much. Oliver should be relieved that he did not have another game-changing decision to make.
Watching the clip back, the desperation of the Manchester City duo is clear. Rodri is left clawing at Díaz — and there’s one point where it seems almost certain that Oliver would have had to produce a second yellow card if the Liverpool man had hit the deck.
Having already run at least 50 yards by this point, Díaz ploughed on, seeing his cross blocked by Walker a couple of seconds later. Rarely has a corner been so hard-earned, but Liverpool would surely have preferred being up against a 10-man Manchester City side, with Rodri facing a suspension as well.
