The Athletic has live coverage of the PSG vs Bayern Munich match.
For a player once criticised for not scoring enough, Luis Diaz is starting to make a habit of answering back in the most decisive way.
His goals this season, including a late nerve-settling strike to seal a Champions League quarter-final win over Real Madrid, have come at important moments.
First, on his Bayern Munich debut against Stuttgart in August (there’s nothing quite like setting the tone). Then away at Paris Saint-Germain, twice in fact, before he was sent off for an out-of-character foul on Achraf Hakimi that earned him a three-game suspension.
Yet even that moment did little to disrupt his momentum. He returned to deliver again, with a last-gasp contribution against St Pauli, whose stubborn resistance at the Allianz Arena frustrated Bayern throughout. And, of course, he stepped up again across both legs against Real Madrid this month.
Even last week, his knack for late interventions was evident, as he struck in stoppage time of the DFB-Pokal semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen, sealing the 2-0 win and sending his side into another final.
Luis Diaz scores Bayern Munich’s second against Bayer Leverkusen last week (Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)
There wasn’t anyone outside Bavaria who thought Bayern had struck themselves a bargain in July, when Diaz joined from Liverpool in a €75million (£65m; $88m) deal, including add-ons.
Yet beyond the importance of his goals, their quality and quantity have also helped justify his fee.
The standout is his effort against Union Berlin in November, which was voted Sportschau’s Goal of the Year in 2025. Diaz showed his electric speed, tenacity, skill and sublime finishing all in one, keeping a stray pass in play, dazzling a defender and slamming into the top corner.
🇨🇴 Lucho last time in Berlin 🤯📐 pic.twitter.com/gMqEhHMbqT
— FC Bayern München (@FCBayern) December 2, 2025
The way he picked the pockets of PSG’s defenders during Bayern’s 2-1 win in the Champions League’s league stage was also impressive, particularly with his second of the night.
He has put together a catalogue of different finishes: often his left foot, occasionally his right, even with his head, including the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup victory against Stuttgart, when his celebration paid tribute to the late Diogo Jota.
Then there is the sheer volume of his goals — 25 in 45 games, way beyond his best (17 in 50 last season) for Liverpool.
All of his key metrics have improved this season, including expected goals (xG), shot accuracy, conversion rate and minutes per goal. Diaz is also the only player across Europe’s top five leagues to register at least 13 goals and 13 assists this season, setting a record as the first player in Bundesliga history to reach the milestone since Opta started measuring such statistics in 2004.
The obvious assumption for the increased productivity is that the Bundesliga is inferior compared to the Premier League. But perhaps he is at the peak of his powers. Although his tally of 16 goals in 26 games for Porto during the first half of the 2021-22 season remains his most efficient ratio — and was the main reason Liverpool moved quickly to sign him in January 2022 — he has never sustained such ruthless consistency in front of goal across a whole season.
Luis Diaz was a key part of the Liverpool team who won the Premier League in 2025 (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
He’s rewriting his own standards after finding rhythm, confidence and perhaps even a level of freedom in Germany.
Tactically, Diaz has always been intelligent enough to cover different positions, most notably when he played through the middle for Liverpool last season. As the graphic below shows, though, Diaz spent much of his time on Merseyside playing as a left-winger.
At Bayern, his role is more of an inside forward. That suits his attacking team-mates at Bayern, all of whom have contrasting attributes, and even the full-backs. Head coach Vincent Kompany asks his full-backs, particularly Josip Stanisic and Konrad Laimer, to underlap and overlap, emphasising the importance of wingers who can adapt to different roles. Michael Olise on the right and Diaz on the left fulfil that criterion.
Thriving in transition, Diaz has already registered 10 shots and scored three goals from Opta-defined ‘fast breaks’. He only attempted 18 shots and scored four goals from fast breaks across nearly 150 games at Liverpool.
His pressing qualities have given Kompany’s side a new dimension and strengthened their chances of progressing past PSG. When Bayern lost 4-1 against Barcelona in last season’s league phase, the inability to ‘lock’ the best teams inside their own half was seen as a weakness. Bringing in Diaz, a metronomic presser and worker, was a huge selling point and has been a big part of his success.
Although his overall pressing numbers are slightly higher — 2.5 high turnovers per 90 minutes for Bayern vs 2.1 per 90 for Liverpool — the improvement is clearer when we account for possession. Looking at ‘adjusted interceptions’ (interceptions and passes blocked per 1,000 opposition touches), he is up to 2.2 per 90 minutes at Bayern, rather than 1.6 per 90 at Liverpool.
More vigilant defensively and more ruthless in front of goal, Diaz has stepped it up a level. When discussing the forward’s qualities on TNT Sports during this month’s quarter-final against Real Madrid, Steven Gerrard, the ex-Liverpool captain, said: “We miss him a lot. You can’t sleep when Luis Diaz is about.”
The feeling at Liverpool was that he was never quite the finished article. It’s part of the reason, alongside his own desire for change, that he was allowed to leave.
When supporters thanked him and wished him well on his exit, they thought the replacements of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak would make up for his departure. One fan account even posted on X, in relation to the attacking rebuild, with a caption: “Name a bigger upgrade in footballing history” — a message that led Mohamed Salah to respond: “How about we celebrate the great signings without disrespecting the PL champions?”
Luis Diaz’s stellar form bodes well for Colombia’s chances at the 2026 World Cup (Gabriel Aponte/Getty Images)
Salah and his longer-serving team-mates knew how important Diaz was at Liverpool and so did those in charge of recruitment. The decision to sell was not straightforward and required complex negotiations, but Liverpool saw it as excellent business. Diaz was 28, had two years remaining on his contract and — most importantly — wanted to leave. Two offers of a new deal had been turned down and a desire to pursue a new challenge had long been known.
Bayern’s willingness to spend so much on a player that the Premier League champions were willing to let go was questioned externally, but those inside were confident they were getting good value.
They saw Diaz as the best available left-sided forward, especially as they wanted an attacker who could operate across the final third, forming part of what they imagined would be among the most flexible front lines in Europe.
The positions from which Diaz has scored his goals this season show they were right, and it doesn’t feel like an exaggeration to suggest the best might be yet to come.
Additional reporting: Seb Stafford-Bloor and Anantaajith Raghuraman
