Everything seemed possible for Luis Diaz when Bournemouth last made the visit to Anfield almost 12 months ago.
Sure enough, Diaz notched his first double for the club by bookending the record-breaking 9-0 romp
But then came the hammer blow of his knee injury at the Emirates which was subsequently aggravated on his return at the mid-season training camp in Dubai.
All told, Diaz spent six months on the sidelines.
After an indifferent showing in the first friendly of pre-season at Karlsruhe in which the other four main Liverpool forwards either scored or assisted
the celebration from Diaz at scoring the opener in the next game against Greuther Furth was laced with significant relief.
He hasn't looked back. More goals came against Bayern Munich and SV Darmstadt
Diaz's performances earning him a starting role on the left wing on the opening weekend at Chelsea last Sunday during which it took him only 18 minutes to score Liverpool's first of the season
Diaz:
"For me personally, it's a real confidence boost when you can score early on in a season, so hopefully that's going to help me throughout the season as it progresses"
"I think it's always really, really important to be able to contribute to the team. Right now I feel 100% in myself, I feel really, really good. I feel highly motivated and relaxed and calm at the same time, so that's good."
"I think when you do have adverse times you do appreciate the good times a lot more. It teaches you to know that you're never really sure what's around the corner and what might happen next, so you have to enjoy every day as it happens and get the most out of it.
"You really appreciate the fact that you feel 100% and you feel well in yourself. It was all about working really hard during those difficult times and training hard just to make sure that I could come back 100% and start contributing again
Diaz has in some ways become a lucky charm for Liverpool. In the 48 appearances he has made, the Reds have lost only five times
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