Luis Diaz couldn’t prevent Colombia from slipping to a 1-0 defeat to Argentina last night. Liverpool’s new signing played the full 90 minutes in Cordoba.
The defeat was Colombia’s second 1-0 loss in a row. It leaves Liverpool’s newest recruit’s World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.
Sitting 7th in the CONMEBOL qualifying table, they are four points off a play-off place with two games to play.
How did Diaz do
It seems the whole Colombia side were poor last night. But Diaz, as his team’s talisman, didn’t do enough to change that and turn the game around.
The New Century says that there were “hardly any glimpses” of the £37.5m man as Colombia waited in “counter-attack mode.”
Diaz gets a more favourable mention in Bogota based paper El Espectador. He’s only alluded to once in the report, which is never a good sign for an attacker. But the paper claim some “great individual play” from the 25-year-old led to a chance which Miguel Borja missed.
Finally, El Universal gave Diaz a six out of ten. That was far from the worst score they gave on the night, although the verdict that he “doesn’t make a difference” isn’t a glowing reference either.
What does it mean for Liverpool
The main thing for Liverpool is that Diaz is now free to join up with his new teammates on Merseyside.
It is a shame that he wasn’t able to drag his team to victory in these games. But Liverpool fans won’t care one bit as it means they’ll finally see him training as a Liverpool player.
It’s likely that Diaz’s life has been hectic over the last few days. That he was still able to go out and give a decent performance against Messi and co is a good sign in itself.
Fans will now eagerly await news from the club as to when Diaz is expected at the AXA Training Centre.
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