While their reputation for being excellent counter-pressers is more than well deserved, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool have always been good at this sort of goal (and more extreme versions) too. They look to be calmly recycling possession to advance up the pitch before upping the pace a touch to score.
The goal in midweek was somewhat unlikely in that Joe Gomez provided the assist, just his eighth for the club. You might have been surprised to see Luis Díaz find the net with a somewhat acrobatic header too. “It’s a goal that Sadio Mané would’ve probably scored and been proud of as well,” was the verdict of co-commentator (and former Liverpool defender) Gary Gillespie on LFCTV. Yet the Senegalese international probably dreams of being as potent in the air as his former teammate. Díaz has been using his head to very strong effect in recent weeks. Prior to the LASK goal, his previous strikes occurred in the yellow shirt of Colombia. They were massively important goals too, not least as his father was present at the match. Trailing 1-0 to Brazil, two headed goals from Díaz turned defeat into a victory.
The 26-year-old will have no doubt enjoyed the fact he beat teammate Alisson Becker to score in that match. Remarkably, the Reds’ number one has never conceded two headed goals in a game for Liverpool yet Díaz was able to achieve this in the space of five second half minutes.
His previous club goal was effectively a headed effort too, albeit as it came off his shoulder it rightly went down in the data as ‘other body part’. It certainly wasn’t Díaz’s foot, anyway, meaning in the last month his ‘headers’ have rescued a point at Luton, earned three for Colombia and put the Reds on the road to victory in the Europa League. A particularly hot streak this might be, but the former Porto man has scored other important headed goals for Liverpool in the past. His second strike for the club, and first away from Anfield, was the opener in a win at Brighton.
Díaz displayed his bravery to score, getting severely clattered by goalkeeper Robert Sánchez for his trouble. The following month, the Colombian scored a headed equalizer in the second leg of a Champions League semi-final, at Villarreal. He then topped and tailed a record-equaling pummeling of Bournemouth with headers last season. If your least important goal with your head is the final strike in a 9-0 win, you’re probably doing something right.
Gillespie rightly drew a parallel with Mané in midweek. Many would argue his 94th minute headed winner at Aston Villa was the most important goal of Liverpool’s Premier League title winning campaign, or at the very least it was a leading contender. He sealed a win over Bayern Munich en route to winning the Champions League with a header too. But for the goals where body part data is easily available – in league or Europe, in other words – Mané scored 14.9 per cent of his Reds tally with his head. That’s above Mohamed Salah (4.0), but behind Diogo Jota (20.4), Darwin Núñez (22.7) and Roberto Firmino (24.1). And even Bobby doesn’t reach Díaz’s mark of 31.3 per cent, thanks to five of the latter’s 16 Liverpool goals being headers.
He might not match Divock Origi (35.7), with today the fifth anniversary of the Belgian’s unforgettable 96th minute Merseyside derby winner. But with Fulham having conceded to a Matheus Cunha header on Monday, Diaz may get the opportunity to bag yet another vital goal with his head this weekend.
The move which led to Liverpool’s opening goal against LASK on Thursday evening saw the ball move back and forth and from side to side across the pitch, with almost every player involved. Despite the possession sequence lasting just 15 passes, only Cody Gakpo from the 11 Reds on the pitch didn’t play one.
