Villarreal coach Unai Emery admits Luis Diaz made a colossal impact during Liverpool’s 3-2 Champions League semi-final victory at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday night, speaking to Trivela.
Two legs, two triumphs, two very different performances from Jurgen Klopp’s rampant Reds.
If that 2-0 home win last week was all about patience – Liverpool were made to wait until the second half before they finally picked the Villarreal lock – then the return leg on the Castellon coast was a display of attitude, determination and a masterclass in how to respond to adversity.
Inspired by the talismanic Gerard Moreno, after missing the Merseyside meeting between the two sides six days earlier, Villarreal roared into a 2-0 goal lead and threatened to pull off a shock that would have made Roma’s 3-0 thumping of Barcelona a couple of years ago look like small fry in comparison.
But the half-time introduction of Luis Diaz changed everything as Klopp’s ‘mentality monsters’ bared their claws at last.
Villarreal 2-3 Liverpool
“We lost strength. Their goal (Fabinho halved Villarreal’s lead just after the hour) affected us mentally,” admits Emery.
“We didn’t have the strength to respond.
“(Juan) Foyth stopped Luis Diaz well on the first move, but he had to repeat and repeat.
“There are four periods of 45 minutes and (playing well in) one is not enough. We wanted more. I had hoped to take another step further, but it couldn’t be.”
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Diaz has now scored five times in all competitions since joining Liverpool for £37 million from Porto in the January transfer window, dragging Villarreal kicking and screaming all the way back to square one as he equalled the scores following a fine Trent Alexander-Arnold cross.
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Sadio Mane completed the comeback 15 minutes from the end, taking full advantage of another howler from a goalkeeper in Geronimo Rulli who did his best Loris Karius impression on the biggest night of his footballing career.
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