Manchester United legend lavishes praise on Luis Diaz

Gary Neville feared Luis Diaz would exacerbate Manchester United's poor form.

22/08/2022, 10:05 PM +00:00

Luis Diaz is playing his second season in the Liverpool shirt and with it comes the responsibility of being a replacement for Senegalese Sadio Mané, who left for German football to play for Bayern Munich, with whom he has already scored three goals in the Bundesliga.

For both Liverpool and Diaz, the start to the season has not been easy, having failed to win after two Premiership games, drawing an equal number of games, and now they have lost again to Manchester United after a run of years, in Monday's match at Old Trafford.

Despite this, the praise for Diaz did not take long to arrive, the goal against Crystal Palace meant a balm for the player who a week before that game was questioned by the English press for his low performance. The performance of the former Junior de Barranquilla generated the admiration of legends like the Spanish Carles Puyol, who through his official Twitter account, wrote the following: "Amazing Luis Diaz".

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On Monday 22 August, Jürgen Klopp's side faced Manchester United at Old Trafford in the third round of the Premier League, both desperate for a win. Diaz had already shown his quality last season against United, when he opened the scoring for Liverpool in a 4-0 win on 19 April.

Gary Neville

Former Manchester United player Gary Neville told the Liverpool Echo that the former Porto man could exacerbate the crisis for Dutchman Erik ten Hag's side: "His tracking, his pressing. His energy in the game, his dispossession of opposing teams is absolutely unbelievable."

With Monday's defeat, the Reds sit 16th in the Premier League after three games with just two points, while Erik Ten Hag's side climbed to 14th after finishing second-bottom in the standings the previous week.

Diaz is a member of the Colombia national team and is also on the list of players nominated for the Ballon d'Or, which includes other world football stars such as Mohamed Salah, Benzema, Vinicius Junior, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland, among other big stars.