Luis Diaz went to his hunches as the full-time whistle blew at Kenilworth Road, signalling a dismal stalemate for Liverpool.
The TV directors quickly focused their cameras on the Reds’ hero, and one by one, they approached him to offer their support and gratitude in equal measure.
One of the first people on the scene was Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer, who wrapped the player’s head in an armband after he had just denied his club a historic Premier League victory. The Luton captain would have been devastated to witness his team let up a header by Diaz that gave them a last-minute equaliser, but there are certain things that are obviously more crucial.
Rather than bemoaning the ongoing kidnapping situation involving his father back in Colombia, Lockyer was effusive in his respect and admiration for a player who had somehow managed to rise above the substitutes’ bench and save his team from a humiliating setback that would have had many wondering if this new-look Liverpool team was really made of the right stuff after all.
Even though Jurgen Klopp’s team had a lacklustre and disorganised performance against a team that has only won once this season, the focus of this story was Diaz’s mental toughness. Those inquests may still be worthwhile. He deserves all the praise for it.
The 26-year-old was in the right frame of mind to rejoin the team as a replacement after going through a terrible week due to the kidnapping of his parents in Colombia. In addition, his teammates were grateful for his intervention after Tahith Chong scored on a counterattack.
Understandably enough, though, Diaz graciously declined to meet with the media when they approached him after the game, escorted out by Darwin Nunez.
Before Alisson Becker gave delivered the greatest bear embrace, Virgil van Dijk also ran straight for his colleague. The South American foursome of Liverpool is very tight off the pitch, and Diaz has probably leaned more than ever on that friendship group in recent days as the horrors of his father’s circumstances have come to light.
The terrifying situation involving his father, thousands of miles away from the winger’s Merseyside home, will be heartbreaking for everyone connected to the family because Diaz and his fiance, Gera Ponce, are currently expecting their second child and tried to somehow celebrate the first-born’s second birthday earlier this week. It’s likely impossible to exaggerate how valiant Diaz was that day as a result.
“It says a lot about his character and inner strength,” Alisson added post-match. “I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”
In the hopes that a horrible scenario is at least getting closer to a conclusion, negotiations between the Colombian government and rebel organisation ELN will continue to try to orchestrate Luis Manauel Diaz’s peaceful release. The family lovingly refers to him as “Mane.”
Nunez’s one-man effort to break through Luton’s defensive line defined the first half. Six attempts in all included forcing Thomas Kaminski into two long-range stops, the closest of which came when he hit the crossbar following an excellent ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In addition, Diogo Jota forced the custodian to make a good save on a threaded pass from Ryan Gravenberch, but Klopp’s team had a subpar first forty-five minutes as they failed to capitalise on their superior quality against their energetic opponents, who also caused problems with Chiedoze Ogbene down the Reds’ right.
After Mohamed Salah’s knockdown in the second half, Nunez had the opportunity to make it 1-0, but instead of adding to his already impressive seven goals this season, the Uruguayan international instead added another spectacular miss to his tally.
If it is appropriate to become emotional when Nunez scores a spectacular goal as he did to win the Carabao Cup match against Bournemouth on Wednesday, then it is also reasonable to be critical of these kinds of costly errors made in front of goal.
It will be more difficult to pass this one off as just another one of those things than it was the obvious errors against Toulouse and Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League, which were readily ignored during convincing victories. If he wants to really realise the very clear potential, he only has to grab these opportunities more often. To be fair to Nunez, though, he didn’t hide on an afternoon when many Liverpool players did.
In an attempt to spark some attacking creativity, Klopp brought on Harvey Elliott, Kostas Tsimikas, and Cody Gakpo, but it was the hosts who scored via Chong on the counterattack. Liverpool was upset that they had not received a penalty for handball from the corner where Luton broke, but this was hardly one of the most puzzling calls they had seen this season.
Diaz headed home Elliott’s lofted cross as the game entered the fifth minute of the eight added on to split the spoils. Regarding Klopp’s substitution strategy, it was yet another game-changing move, as the starting five maintained their streak of scoring at least one goal in every match this season.
The front line of Liverpool now numbers 31, but that won’t be the primary takeaway from this lacklustre draw, which had far too many similarities to the agonising away days of the previous season, when teams like Brentford, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, and Bournemouth all triumphed against Klopp’s squad.
Considering how much they had done to persuade so many people that Liverpool had made enormous progress this season, this was definitely a significant setback for the team.