Luis Diaz fumes at Liverpool team-mate Roberto Firmino after howler against Benfica

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Liverpool star Luis Diaz was fuming at team-mate Roberto Firmino for misplacing what should have been a simple assist for the Colombian in the Reds’ Champions League tie against Benfica. Liverpool were tied 1-1 on the night, leading 4-2 on aggregate, when Firmino should have laid on an easy chance for Diaz.

Firmino broke through a Benfica defence consisting of former Manchester City star Nicolas Otamendi and Tottenham icon Jan Vertonghen. Goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos had to scamper back to his goal-line after initially thinking he could cut out a long pass. 

The forward drove into the left-hand channel and the angle was too tight for a shot. Instead, Diaz was making an excellent run to Firmino’s right and the Brazilian tried a trivella-style pass with the outside of his right foot. 

However, the pass locked power and Benfica left-back Alex Grimaldo was able to make a perfect sliding tackle, preventing Diaz from tapping the ball into an empty net. A 2-1 lead before half-time would have killed off the tie, with Liverpool having won the first leg 3-1 in Portugal. 

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January signing Diaz was visibly unhappy with Firmino. He turned to the 30-year-old and raged at his fellow South American. 

The 25-year-old former Porto winger gestured to Firmino, shouted and then put his hands on his head, recognising how good a chance it was to score. Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch felt Diaz was justified in being angry at his strike partner. 

Watching the incident, BT Sport pundit Crouch said: “Luis Diaz was fuming wasn’t he. You could see what he thought of it.”

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“Yeah, and rightly so,” fellow former Liverpool man Steve McManaman added. Crouch continued: “He has just got to put more pace on the pass. A man of Firmino’s ability… Diaz was fuming with it, he just wanted a bit more pace on the ball.”

McManaman said of Grimaldo’s tackle: “I mean, yeah it is a great tackle, but again it is sloppy from Liverpool and it should have been in the back of the net. (Roberto) Firmino goes with not enough power with the outside of his right foot, but he should have just pinged it across with his left foot, and put a lot more power on it. This should be a tap in at the back post.”.

Firmino went on to make amends for his error in the second half. He scored two quickfire goals to hand Liverpool a 3-1 lead and a 6-2 advantage on aggregate.

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