Díaz goes from skinny boy to Klopp’s talisman at Liverpool

Luis Díaz changed several games for Liverpool. In one of them, the second match against Villarreal in the semifinals of the Champions League, after 45 minutes of dominance by the opponent, the 25-year-old Colombian entered the field and was decisive in his team’s victory. For that, he used his slender body to head in, which is not even his specialty, in the 3-2 comeback triumph.

He has been with the club since the last transfer window. He arrived from Porto in January at a cost of 49 million pounds (R$352 million at the time), including bonuses and contract clauses, and has been a player Jürgen Klopp trusts, with quick adaptation.

Before, there were difficulties, considerable for a slight boy, but constant ambition. To this day, listed at 1.78 m and 65 kg, he doesn’t have a Cristiano Ronaldo body. But, as one of his coaches in his youth, John “Pocillo” Díaz, noted, the urge is huge.

“He always wanted to be a professional player. Lucho was a big fan of Ronaldinho and even said his dream was to take a picture with Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. He wanted to see the biggest stadiums cheering for him, calling his name and applauding one of his good games,” he told Sheet.

“He was very thin and humble. Lucho didn’t eat well, but he was very fast on the pitch. We made some changes, and he ended up eating five meals a day. His game had few problems. He was a striker, but he didn’t lift his head when he was with the ball, and we turned him into a winger”, recalled Pocillo.

Pocillo and Luis Díaz met in 2015, during the America’s Cup of Indigenous Peoples. There was at first a relationship between coach and player that later turned into friendship. To be in the competition, Díaz survived a test with around 400 players in Colombia.

“There, he stood out. He was already very strong with his right foot. He used to dribble to the middle, using his right leg to reach the attack strongly, as we see him doing at Liverpool. Few things are yet to be seen in his football, but one of them is that he is an excellent free kick taker”, said Pocillo.

Later that year, Luis Díaz joined Barranquilla FC, an affiliate of Colombia’s top division Junior Barranquilla. In the transition to the mother club, as Fernel Díaz, another former coach, recalls, his talent forced the creation of a new category.

“It goes without saying that he was very thin, right? He surprised us with his abilities. But, because he was 18 years old and the competitions were for the under-17 and under-20 categories, he couldn’t play for one and he didn’t have the experience to play for the other. Our solution was to create an intermediate category, the under-18. It took just six months for him to reach the under-20 and make a difference”, said Fernel.

At 25, Díaz still has room for growth. And Julio Comesaña, another one of his coaches at Junior Barranquilla, sees in Liverpool’s coach, Jürgen Klopp, someone capable of completing his training and making him “one of the best Colombians to play football”.

“Díaz has always been one of the protagonists on the field. In my opinion, he is one of the best at understanding how a football player has to show his game. You don’t have to be a social media phenomenon or a fan of giving big interviews talking about how good it is. Díaz was never like that. Lucho wants to show his football on the pitch”, stated Comesaña.

“I’ve always told him that football is a sport that rewards effort. He believes in it,” said the former commander, who sees exceptional physical virtues in the old and still frail pupil. “There’s a different resistance in Lucho’s body. Despite being very fast, he can recover in less time than others. It’s not common to see that.”

Díaz arrived in Europe in 2019, hired by Porto. He scored 14 goals in his first season, winning two titles. In 2021, he was the best player in the Portuguese League in October, November and December, which helped to get Liverpool’s attention.

He also featured in the Colombian national team, especially in the 2021 Copa América in Brazil. With four balls in the net, he shared the artillery with Argentine Lionel Messi and was considered the revelation of the competition. Now, he is a candidate for Liverpool’s talisman in the decision against Real Madrid, next Saturday (28), in Paris.