Díaz the hat-trick hero on a night of fireworks at Anfield
Liverpool 4 Bayer Leverkusen 0, 5th November 2024
LIVERPOOL 4 (Díaz 61, 83 and 90+2, Gakpo 63)
BAYER LEVERKUSEN 0
As the rumour mill turns with tales of Trent Alexander-Arnold as definitely leaving Anfield at the end of his contract as Mo Salah and Virgil van dijk are of staying and signing a new deal, surely the eyes of the Liverpool hierarchy must turn in the direction of the man from Barrancas in Colombia, Luis Díaz, and nail the beautiful footballing magician to a contract extension long past his current deal and perhaps, one hopes, a Colombian Red for life. Oh for such dreams and flights of footballing fancy. Whatever transpires off the field in the weeks of transfer speculation ahead and the signing of two, hopefully three, long term contracts for the backbone of a Liverpool team who’ve collectively won the lot in recent seasons, a fourth member of that team of winners needs to be cherished and venerated too, and he’s in the form of his life. I’ve long championed Luis Díaz and at length in my previous two books on the Mighty Reds. But it’s easy to fall in love with a magician who defends like a lion for his team before transforming into a graceful gazelle, twisting and elegantly turning his way through a maze of footballing uncertainty and expectation, to find the space for a probing run fit for an instinctive pass, an impudent chip to defeat an advancing goalkeeper, the muscle to hold off a defender because the scent of a goal in his nostrils, the constant running, the constant running of a striker desperate for another goal, a hat-trick, the roars of the crowd proclaiming their adoration and all because “he plays for Liverpool”.
“He’s Luis Díaz
He’s from Barrancas
And he plays for Liverpool”
When Luis Díaz arrived from FC Porto in early 2022 he cut a slender, waif like figure ready to grow into the adult, muscular body of today. He reminded me immediately of Steven Gerrard in his early professional years, both physically and with a football at his feet and an eye for the spectacular. He continues to remind me of so many Liverpool Reds of today either his teammates within the squad or those out on loan as they grow into both their adult bodies and the realisation of their childhood dreams. The Luis Díaz of today is so far from the boy who didn’t just force his immediate way into Jürgen Klopp’s starting XI but rampaged his way to a certain starter and, although largely overlooked, brilliant performances in both domestic Cup Finals of 2022, a trick he’d repeat in this year’s Carabao League Cup Final, and now very definitely a senior professional in a team of “boys” and “kids”. The affectionately known “Lucho” is 27 soon to be 28 and in the form of his life with a Champions League hat-trick and 5 Premier League goals to his name. The number 7 of Kenny Dalglish is in magical and mercurial goal scoring hands, and long may this pleasing reality of life continue.
Away from a Colombian magician we find Liverpool’s own Curtis Jones excelling again in a 73 minute performance of high quality ball retention and rotation among the Red shirts surrounding him and although his exquisite pass for Diaz’s opening goal will be lauded and rightly so, it was his first half industry that impressed above all, keeping the team moving positively all around him in a first 45 minutes of largely stalemate football between two high class and equally matched teams. 4–0 on paper looks a dominant win and it was, second half, and a 3 minute spell whereby Liverpool ripped the guts from the game with 2 quick fire goals and for 20 minutes managed the game to its eventual victory. But this would be to overlook the rudimentary save from Caoimhin Kelleher on 15 minutes that denied Edmond Tapsoba but more so his remarkable double save late on before topping this still further with a sprawling one-handed save that denied Robert Andrich a consolation goal moments after. Yet another clean sheet for the smiling Irishman! Ibrahima Konaté gave his skipper beside him another night off with a dominant central defensive performance and although Trent Alexander-Arnold had a mixed night Kostas Tsimikas didn’t, impressing again, and dare I say looking a more confident and rounded player under Arne Slot’s tutelage? Mo Salah supplied two elegant assists, the first a gem of a cross for a bullet headed goal from Cody Gakpo that merited both his individual performance and the beautiful team goal that came before it. Ryan Gravenberch was industrious. Curtis Jones impish and creative beside him. All 3 strikers scoring or in the case of Salah, a double assist in a career overflowing with them. And as with the Brighton game on Saturday, Anfield came alive in the second half with the game on the line at 0–0 and roared their heroes into yet another quick double goal scoring strike and with it, Arne Slot’s “control” of the game. His chant at the end of the game was the loudest I’ve heard so far and there was even a loud game ending rendition of “Ring of Fire”, evoking celebrations and triumphs of European dreams of the past.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool destroyed Bayer Leverkusen, a team rightly monikered as “The Invincibles” as they stormed to the German title without defeat last season. Blew them away. Scored two picture perfect goals in three beautifully football inspired minutes in a supreme second half performance to match the spectacle of the fireworks shooting into the night sky all around this field of Anfield Road.
This is some team in the making.
Arne’s Afterword
“Like many times now, managers change their game plan when they come to Anfield or when they play us — that’s also what we saw today. We’ve seen a lot of games from Leverkusen but I’ve never seen Boniface playing from the left. So, they played without a nine and that’s why they overloaded the midfield a lot. It was quite difficult to press them high. But the good thing was that we hardly conceded anything and I think during the first half if there were chances, they were for us”.
“Not only the people in Colombia like and love Lucho, the fans of Liverpool love him a lot as well. I heard many times the fans singing his song. And the manager likes him a lot as well — I don’t love him but I like him a lot! He’s played many, many games but I just said something about Darwin Nunez: in the Premier League and the Champions League, you have to play so many games at the highest level and it’s not always possible for every player to play every game, especially in certain positions. So, if you are a centre-back, normally you run not as much as a left-winger or a full-back or a midfielder — and especially our wingers. But because you all look at the goals Lucho scored and the goals Cody scored, I also look at the fact how hard they track back, how much they have to defend. I ask a lot from them, so that’s why sometimes we have to rotate them. But Lucho, for me, is a starter. And I said this three days ago about Cody as well — he’s, for me, a starter also”.
“We want to be there, where we are now, we want to compete for everything and, therefore, you have to accept that if you work here or play here that there is pressure. The other side is, if you work or play here you can enjoy incredible evenings and enjoy it because today the atmosphere… I said last Saturday, this was impressive — but I think this was even more impressive today”.
Thanks for reading. I often lament that despite my hundreds of articles here I rarely if ever make contact with genuine Liverpool fans so, if that is you, please say a hearty hello and, whilst you’re here, can I interest you in these spectacularly good self-published books on the Mighty Reds?
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.