Arne Slot delighted with Luiz Diaz striker experiment

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits even he was surprised how well Luis Diaz did as an experimental centre forward.

The Colombia international scored his first hat-trick for the club in the 4-0 Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen after starting the game as a false nine.

Slot has already tried a number of variations up front, changing from his preferred centre forward due to an injury to Diogo Jota to line up with a false nine and, on one occasion two false nines.

Diaz responded to his first outing through the middle with an performance against the Bundesliga champions which exceeded Slot's expectations.

"Lucho did really well and if was, even for me, maybe a bit of a surprise to see how well he did," he said.

"I played him there for a reason, I expected him to do good but that he played so well that was even a surprise for me."

Darwin Nunez is his only fit genuine number nine as Jota is out with an impact injury to his upper body, but the Uruguay international has not started every game in his absence.

With summer signing Federico Chiesa also sidelined it means Slot has had to be more creative with his formation and that looks set to continue.

"When we had Darwin and Diogo available we always played one of those two," he added.

"To be honest I liked especially the last idea, I think every Liverpool supporter did with Lucho scoring three goals, two as a nine and one as a winger, so that is always interesting to see, but Lucho is also a very good left winger.

"At this moment we have four attackers available for three positions so we could come up with another idea again but if Diogo comes back and Darwin is back then we have two numbers nines available again."

Diaz has nine goals already this season, a tally it took him