From the rut of a losing cause, Liverpool found a point. Out of the misery of a week from hell, Luis Diaz was the man who made it happen. Beautiful.
It wasn’t a great header, it wasn’t a great performance and it wasn’t a result that would look particularly good on the wider canvas of a giant’s season.
But to see something go so well for Diaz after the incalculable trauma he’s endured over the past eight days was truly brilliant. Desperately trivial in the context of his father’s kidnapping in Columbia, but desperately nice for the same reason.
If we go through the essence of it, and think about how the sporting and human stories intertwined, you will notice that Diaz’s moment came in the phase of the greatest tension in the match.
Liverpool had absolutely dominated, and then, after 80 minutes of play and having missed numerous chances from Darwin Nunez, they fell behind to Tahith Chong’s counter-punch. At that point, Jurgen Klopp, in his desperation, called Diaz off the bench, having given him compassionate leave for the previous two games.
Luis Diaz (left) came off the bench to rescue a draw for Liverpool after rising highest at the back post in stoppage time
After scoring, Diaz showed off a shirt with a message saying his father should be released after he was kidnapped
The Colombian’s late goal secured an important draw for Liverpool on Sunday evening
The payoff came in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Harvey Elliott had floated a ball towards the far post, Diaz threw himself into the air, above Issa Kabore, and somehow managed to slot the ball half-head and half-shoulder past Thomas Kaminski.
For a moment he seemed unsure how to respond, how to deal with the wild feelings of it all, but then he lifted his shirt to share a message: “Libertad para papa.” Freedom for Dad.
When the match was over, his first hug was from Luton’s captain Tom Lockyer, and we have to consider their position in all of this because it was so close to their story. From a sporting point of view, that is still the case: a draw against Liverpool is a stunning result.
But it was brilliantly close to a win, despite ceding 74 percent of possession to the visitors and shooting 24 of 32 in the match.
On another day they might have retained victory, or remained completely hidden. But it was a well-deserved point for Rob Edwards’ side, and especially for their goalkeeper Kaminski, who made a number of brilliant saves from Nunez. He excelled and his team defended superbly, or they did until the last of those chances.
For Liverpool and Klopp, a defeat would have been painful and a draw will be uplifting in these circumstances. But it wasn’t a good performance – just a good ending.
They built up the pressure well, controlled possession and territory and gave away the smallest handful of chances. But their inability to finish their moves and their sensitivity to Luton’s speed on the wings will be something of a concern.
Of these shortcomings, we should tighten Nunez up a bit. He was insatiable in his hunger to shoot here. After getting a taste of the spectacle during his midweek attack against Bournemouth, every touch here was a mission to repeat. In the first half alone he went for goal five times, the first time from an almost identical position to the one he crashed into at the Vitality Stadium.
Tahith Chong initially put Luton ahead after taking a cross deep into Liverpool’s penalty area
Chong received a cross from close range to give Luton a late lead at Kenilworth Road
This time it was well saved by Kaminski, as was the third of his cluster, with a volley against the crossbar in between. He was a ball of chaos, infuriating in one respect because of his desire to shoot from any distance and angle – twice Mo Salah seemed to gesture that there might be alternative paths to goal – but it was fun to watch .
So did Liverpool, although that was more down to their frenzied search for solutions than the quality of their play. It wasn’t bad by any means – just ineffective.
All this raised some thoughts: why weren’t they converted and would that make them vulnerable?
To the first of these, the answer was primarily Kaminski. As well as blocking Nunez’s attack, he also kept a hard roller from Diogo Jota to his near post.
As for the risk of retaliation? It wasn’t an outright threat, but it was there. Edwards had gone with a back five and the order to sit and absorb, but within the plan was an explicit desire to counter quickly and hard. When the opportunity arose, they surged forward in numbers, especially through Ross Barkley’s quick passes and Chiedozie Ogbene’s waves.
Klopp watched as his side struggled to break through Luton’s defense for much of the match
Luton players tried to crowd Nunez whenever the Liverpool striker tried to fall behind
Nunez rattled the crossbar early on, but couldn’t get on the scoresheet against Luton
However little ball Luton had, what they did with it was deliberately laced, even if the yield of chances was low – the best of them skied over the bar by Barkley. It almost blew a hole in the advert for Noble Solicitors and sounded like a warning of what could happen if the finish were cleaner.
As tempers began to fray, Liverpool’s annoyance in the second half became apparent in the desperation of their play. Suddenly Nunez wasn’t the only one swinging from distance but nothing helped, which extended to one shot brilliantly saved by Kaminski and a miss from the Uruguayan that was as bad as his goal at Bournemouth was great.
From an angled ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah crossed the six-meter area and gave Nunez an open goal. He launched it over the bar. The offside flag might have saved him some immediate embarrassment, but that judgment would certainly have been overturned by the VAR.
With Liverpool the inevitable became reality. That, of course, came from a breakaway, led by Barkley across half the field, before Issa Kabore squared Tahith Chong to slot past Alisson. For a while that grew into a beautiful story. And then Elliott floated a ball to the far post and Diaz wrote one that was even more encouraging.