Benfica fans clearly didn’t like seeing Liverpool player Luis Diaz back at the Estádio da Luz on Tuesday. The Colombian had rockets, including a pole, thrown at him after scoring. Diaz signed for Liverpool from Benfica’s rival Porto in January. Loading Something is loading.
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz received what appeared to be a pole fired at him by an angry fan after scoring in the Champions League on Tuesday night against his former Champions League rival Benfica.
Diaz, who signed for Liverpool from FC Porto in January, scored a crucial goal in the closing moments at the Estádio da Luz when Jürgen Klopp’s side won 3-1 in the first leg of the quarter-final.
As he celebrated his strike on the sidelines, the Colombian had numerous projectiles thrown at him.
One of the thrown objects was a large stick that narrowly missed his head.
—FTBL (@ftblofficial) Apr 5, 2022
Diaz was not the only Liverpool player to be attacked by projectiles from Benfica fans that night.
Defender Andy Robertson also had some lighters thrown at him when he tried to take a corner late in the game.
Asked about the incident after the game, Robertson said he was happy to help the fans who threw the lighters give up a bad habit.
“Maybe it will help them quit smoking!” said the Scot. “Take the positives.”
—Andy Robertson (@andrewrobertso5) Apr 5, 2022
Liverpool were much the better side in Lisbon, taking the lead in just 17 minutes when defender Ibrahima Konaté headed in a rare goal from a corner.
Sadio Mané then doubled the advantage after being knocked out by Diaz, before a mistake by Konate just after the break allowed Benfica’s Darwin Núñez to close the gap.
The home side rallied for the goal, but missed a number of equalizing opportunities. This proved costly in the end as Diaz scored Liverpool’s third goal with just three minutes left.
“It’s hard to come here and win an away game in the Champions League. It’s clear that Benfica has been fighting for their lives,” Klopp said.
“We could have scored in the last minute. The fourth would be nice, but we are not in dreamland here.”
The two sides will meet again at Anfield in the second leg on April 13, when Klopp expects another tough game.
“It’s calm, we know a lot more about our opponent, they will go for it again,” he said.
“They won at Ajax, they got all the results they needed in the group stage, so we are aware of the quality and now we have a nice match in between and then we are ready for Benfica again.”
This post Luis Diaz of Liverpool fired a pole at him while celebrating the goal
was original published at “https://www.insider.com/liverpools-luis-diaz-flag-pole-launched-at-him-celebrating-goal-2022-4”
