When Luis Diaz completed his hat-trick in Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night, he did it in style!
The Colombian rounded off the scoring for the Reds in the second minute of stoppage time at Anfield, having already beaten Lukas Hradecky twice in the second half, and he had LFC fans making comparison to a former Merseyside idol after his concluding goal.
The result was already secured by the time that Darwin Nunez shot from just inside the penalty area, and although the Uruguayan’s effort was blocked, the ball broke kindly for Diaz to tuck it home with an easy finish to complete his treble.
Diaz seals his hat-trick with no-look finish
Such was the confidence surging through the 27-year-old’s veins in that moment that, when he actually dispatched the ball to the net, he turned his head away in the same ‘no-look’ style which was once Bobby Firmino’s calling card at Liverpool.
That wasn’t lost on the club’s social media admins, who posted a perfectly-timed image of the goal showing our number 7 looking away from the net in front of him along with emojis in recognition of the Colombian’s wonderful audacity.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 5, 2024
Firmino would’ve loved Diaz’s finish
Liverpool may have been cruising at 3-0 up in stoppage time, but for Diaz to even try a no-look finish when goal difference could still be a factor in our final Champions League placing sums up how invincible he must be feeling at the moment.
His hat-trick last night took him to nine goals for the season, just four short of his tally from the whole of last term, and provided he can avoid any major injury (fingers crossed), he looks well set to smash through the 20-goal barrier by the end of the current campaign.
With the 27-year-old excelling in an unfamiliar centre-forward role last night, Nunez could be the fall guy as Slot is bound to stick with the starting triumvirate which put Leverkusen to the sword so brilliantly (the Colombian through the middle with Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah either side of him).
If Firmino was watching his former club romp to yet another victory at Anfield, he’ll have been roundly applauding Diaz copying his party piece for the hat-trick goal!