Liverpool's Luis Diaz soaked up an emotional moment after Villarreal win

Luis Diaz changed the game for Liverpool on Tuesday night.

Just when it looked as though the Reds were imploding in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Villarreal, their January signing saved the day with an electrifying performance.

Truth be told, everything looked set for Liverpool to not even need Diaz’s assistance off the bench as they entered the game with a 2-0 aggregate lead from a first leg in which Villarreal didn’t even notch a shot on target.

But the Merseyside club quickly had to smart up when their hosts rushed into a 2-0 lead of their own, astonishingly drawing the tie level courtesy of goals from Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin.

As such, there was suddenly the very real possibility that Unai Emery’s men could either dump Liverpool out of the competition or kill off the game to ensure that it went to extra time and penalties.

However, thankfully for the Reds, neither of those doomsday scenarios came to pass with Jurgen Klopp making the inspired decision to swap Diogo Jota for Diaz as they consolidated at half-time.

And although Diaz has been scintillating since the first moment he pulled on that famous red jersey, he’s arguably never given a better performance for the club than the one he delivered at Villarreal.

Everything the 25-year-old touched seemed to turn to gold with his sizzling pace, intricate footwork and indefatigable energy roughing up Villarreal in a way that Liverpool had failed to do before that point.

Therefore, it couldn’t have been more fitting that it was Diaz who drew the scores level again on the night, firing Liverpool into a 4-2 aggregate lead by heading home from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.

And by the time that Sadio Mane completed the turnaround by