Colombian Luis Diaz puts Liverpool on the verge of the Champions League semifinals

Back in Portugal, the country that gave the Colombian Luis Diaz his chance at top-level soccer, the striker who now shines at Liverpool assisted a goal and then scored in the 87th minute to help the Reds defeat Benfica 1-3 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The striker played for Benfica's arch-rivals Porto until he signed for Liverpool in January, making him the player the fans at the Da Luz stadium least wanted to see celebrating. But he did celebrate. He scored a third goal that could prove crucial for the English club. Set up by a deflected pass from Naby Keita, Diaz dribbled past the goalkeeper and fired into an empty net, giving himself the pleasure of celebrating in front of his rival fans.

Every time he touched the ball, Diaz was whistled, but instead of being intimidated, he brought out his quality to gift Liverpool's second goal to Sadio Mané. The Colombian headed in Trent Alexander-Arnold's brilliant through ball for his teammate to finish at his leisure in the first half. Liverpool opened the scoring through defender Ibrahima Konaté from a corner kick in the center back's first goal for the club. Uruguay's Darwin Núñez pulled one back, but it was not enough for Benfica.

🎙 @LuisFDiaz19 habla sobre su gol, su partido y la gran noche del Liverpool ante el Benfica... #UCL pic.twitter.com/D0v13EaBl2

— Liga de Campeones (@LigadeCampeones) April 5, 2022

Juergen Klopp's team overcame another hurdle in their quest for an unprecedented hat-trick of titles this season as they approached the semi-finals in Europe. They have already won the English League Cup, reached the FA Cup semifinals, and are one point behind leaders City in the Premier League. Klopp even had the luxury of taking off Mané and Mohamed Salah, his two primary attacking references, on the hour mark, perhaps with the league clash against City on Sunday in mind.

Their English rivals also took advantage in their tough tie against Atletico Madrid. Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne settled the first leg to give Manchester City a 1-0 win over Atletico at the Etihad Stadium.

🤯 @DeBruyneKev con el @ManCityES #UCL pic.twitter.com/7eLEMSCIH9

— Liga de Campeones (@LigadeCampeones) April 5, 2022

After 70 minutes of a tight match, City finally found a way to break through the solid Colchoneros defense, thanks to the vision of the talented Phil Foden. Only a minute after coming on, the Englishman slipped the ball through for De Bruyne to slot home from almost no angle.

"We knew it was going to be quite difficult to generate chances," the Belgian said. "The first half was very even, but we didn't give anything away, and in the second we had a couple of chances. It was good to have taken one."

The other quarter-final first legs will be played on Wednesday when Bayern Munich faces Villareal of Spain, while Real Madrid's Spanish championship leaders visit champions Chelsea in London.