Luis Díaz revved the engine, priming the afterburners. He blazed up the left, taking Juan Foyth, the Villarreal right-back, with him. He slowed and then he went again, purring away from him. The Liverpool winger had just entered as a half-time substitute in his team’s Champions League semi-final, second leg at the Estadio de la Cerámica and he was testing his marker, working out whether he had the beating of him. The answer was emphatic. He did.
Díaz knew it. So did everyone and, as Liverpool set about starting Tuesday night’s tie – albeit 45 minutes late – it felt as though something had been plugged in, the power returning.
For Jürgen Klopp, however, the catalyst lay elsewhere, in a detail closer to his heart, more fundamental. The Liverpool manager had watched everything go wrong in the first half, his team’s 2-0 first-leg lead wiped out – and it might have been worse.
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- May 5, 2022
