CL hits and misses: Diaz is Liverpool's game-changer

Diaz the Liverpool game-changer

Liverpool's players walked off the pitch in stunned silence as the home crowd roared with delight. It was half-time at the Estadio de la Ceramica and Villarreal had hauled themselves level on aggregate.

Jurgen Klopp' side looked in serious trouble but fortunately for them, that was as bad as it got. By the end, a night which threatened disaster had turned into one of celebration.

A third Champions League final in five years beckons and it owes a lot to Luis Diaz.

The Colombian, outstanding since his arrival from Porto in January, changed the game after replacing Diogo Jota at the interval, scoring Liverpool's second goal when he headed home Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross and causing near-constant panic in Villarreal's previously untroubled defence.

Within 15 minutes of his introduction, he had touched the ball more times than Jota did in the whole of the first half and every one of those touches seemed to strike fear into the yellow-shirted defenders unfortunate enough to find themselves in his vicinity.

Juan Foyth, in particular, will be eager to forget his evening up against Diaz, whose explosive pace and sheer relentlessness gave the former Tottenham right-back no end of difficulties.

Diaz was a whirlwind of activity on Liverpool's left flank, completing four dribbles and attempting four shots - twice as many as any of his team-mates despite only playing one half.

But in addition to the chaos factor which destabilised Villarreal so effectively, there was composure in how he used the ball, with all but two of his 20 attempted passes finding a red shirt.

Afterwards, Virgil van Dijk lauded his impact as "incredible" and the centre-back was not the only one grateful for the 25-year-old's