Luis Diaz scored the goal that knocked Trent Alexander-Arnold and Real Madrid out of the Champions League as Bayern Munich won 4-3 on Wednesday night.
The Champions League quarter-finals pitted two former Liverpool team-mates directly against each other as Bayern left winger Diaz took on Real right-back Alexander-Arnold.
It ended in an emphatic 6-4 aggregate victory for the Bundesliga champions after a chaotic 4-3 second-leg win at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday evening.
Arda Guler put Real 1-0 up in the first minute only to be pegged back by Aleksandar Pavlovic soon after, with Guler then making it 2-1 before the half-hour mark.
Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe exchanged goals to ensure the first half ended with Real 3-2 up on the night and to level the tie at 4-4 on aggregate.
A needless second yellow card for Liverpool-linked midfielder Eduardo Camavinga reduced Real to 10 men late on, and almost immediately after Diaz scored the winner – a deflected stunner from range.
It wasn’t the final goal of the game but it was the clincher, making it 5-4 on aggregate and knocking Alexander-Arnold’s side out of the quarter-finals.
Another Liverpool target, Michael Olise, made it 4-3 on the night with an outstanding effort at the end of stoppage time as Bayern set up a semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Luis Diaz’s outstanding debut season at Bayern Munich
Bayern’s victory continues an outstanding debut season for Diaz since his £65.6 million move from Liverpool in the summer.
The Colombian has now scored 24 goals and assisted another 18 in 42 games for the German club, averaging a goal involvement every 82 minutes in all competitions.
That is better than any Liverpool player this season, with Diaz heading into a defining run at the end of the campaign as Bayern eye silverware in the Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB-Pokal.
Vincent Kompany’s side are 12 points clear at the top of the league with five games left to play while PSG and Bayer Leverkusen await in the semi-finals of the two cups.
It is clear that Liverpool are missing a forward of Diaz’s energy and vibrancy this season, though his transfer was difficult to turn down given his age – now 29 – his contract situation and the package offered.
