This is what the Liverpool coach said after leaving Luis Díaz on the bench and not giving him minutes

Another Premier League matchday and, to the surprise of many, Luis Díaz was placed on the bench and did not play a single minute in the game against Leicester City, on matchday 18 of the season, which was part of Boxing Day. Coach Arne Slot made serious decisions about his starting eleven and left out the Colombian winger.

The decision was not an impediment to adding three more points, climbing the table and showing superiority against Leicester City. A 3-1 on the scoreboard was enough to strike another blow and reinforce first place. Liverpool now has 42 points and still has one game pending.

This means that Arne Slot not only manages the team, but he knows perfectly what each player can offer. Against Leicester, he did not need Luis Díaz to come out victorious and preferred to use other variants in the starting eleven. Surely, the health situation of his father in Colombia, opted to stay away from the activities against Leicester.

It is worth remembering that Luis Díaz's father had to be urgently hospitalised for a heart condition. The situation was attended to in time, he had to be transferred from the Barrancas medical centre to the San Juan del César Clinic, where he received the required medical attention and everything was under control. The incident involving 'Mane' surely forced his son to be substituted on Boxing Day.

The words of the Liverpool coach after the victory against Leicester

Liverpool found victory against Leicester after losing 1-0 from the 6th minute with a goal from Jordan Ayew. Then, the machine was activated and they turned the score around with great sporting level. Cody Gakpo started before the end of the first half (1-1), Curtis Jones extended the score at 50' and Mohamed Salah scored the final 3-1 at 82'.

"First of all, it is important to win a game and I think we should win at home against Leicester, but I had the same feeling against Fulham and Nottingham Forest; “That’s why you always have to do a lot, especially in the Premier League, to win a game. And that was also the case today, because we lost 1-0 at the start. Qualifying is something we know, of course, but we also understand that there are still many games to play,” were the first words of Arne Slot in the press conference after the victory.

The goals against Leicester, the substitution of Luis Díaz and the variants he finds with Lucho

For this match, Arne Slot preferred to go out with a trident led by Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, and Curtis Jones as attacking midfielder, leaving Darwin Núñez as the only number nine in the area. That is, Cody took Lucho’s place and played the 90 minutes.

“Good goals. Like Cody’s first, I think both goals were quite similar (Gakpo and Salah). I think just before we scored the 1-1, Mo had a similar shot that hit the bar and just before that he had a right-footed shot that went over the bar. As I said, we get there a lot of times and if these players, like Cody, like Lucho, like Diogo (Jota), like Darwin, like Mo, get into promising positions often enough, they will give their best.”

Liverpool's next game will be on December 29, away to West Ham at the Olympic Stadium in London. Luis Díaz would return to the starting eleven.