Liverpool forward Luis Diaz will play in the Copa America final with Colombia after they beat Uruguay on Thursday.
Diaz has been a key player for his country during what has been an excellent summer tournament for them.
And the Liverpool winger now has the chance to return to the AXA Training Centre a continental champion. Alexis Mac Allister and Argentina stand in his way.
For Diaz, he’ll be hoping for consecutive wins against his Anfield teammates. After seeing off the challenge posed by Darwin Nunez and co, the 27-year-old will not be phased.
And having reached a first final in 23 years, the Colombians will have reason to believe that they can beat anyone.
Colombian media react to Luis Diaz display
Diaz has been a really important figure for Colombia for a little while now. The Liverpool forward is a real star in his homeland.
However, it must also be said that Lucho has an excellent cast of teammates to call upon. Between them, they’ve led their nation on a remarkable 27-game unbeaten run.
That has obviously included the five games at the current tournament, and Diaz will be desperate to make that six in Miami on Monday morning.
Unfortunately for Colombia, the 28th game of their sequence was a 1-0 loss against Argentina. Ominously, the world champions were the last team to beat Nester Lorenzo’s side, way back in February 2022.
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Diaz played 90 minutes that day and will be hoping for better this time around.
And according to Colombian outlet El Heraldo, the Reds man is heading into the final in pretty good form.
They hand Diaz a seven out of ten for his efforts against Uruguay, with only two players given a better score overall.
They report that Lucho was ‘very good’ when left to lead the line for himself after Daniel Munoz’s first-half sending off. As ever, Diaz is said to have ‘fought against everyone’ and played with huge ‘character.’ We’ve seen that at Anfield plenty of times.
Who will win the Copa America?
It will be a good match-up when Colombia take on Argentina early next week. The world champions against the longest unbeaten run in international football. Something has to give.
From a Liverpool perspective, Arne Slot is already guaranteed to welcome a champion back to his squad.
There are some parallels to the 2022 African Cup of Nations, when Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah went head-to-head for Senegal and Egypt.
One will come back full of confidence and joy, another deflated and disappointed.
In our opinion, we could see Colombia harnessing their good run and beating Argentina. Mac Allister, Messi and co have not been at their best in the United States and could finally come unstuck.
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