Luis Diaz wasn’t able to help Colombia record a victory over Ecuador and with the sides drawing 0-0 his penalty miss proved pivotal, now one international teammate spoke out about the match-winning opportunity.
Speaking with Gol Caracol (translated), Davinson Sanchez said: “There is no need to hide anything, ‘Lucho’ has been doing very important things in England, I suffered a lot when I was at Tottenham, but one way or another it is to take away that pressure that has been indirectly put on him.
“The idea was that I could score and take off that pressure a little bit. And, although unfortunately it did not come, we will continue working to ensure that it continues to be decisive”.
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It’s good to see that our No.7 has support from his teammates on the international stage but it’s also rather intriguing to hear of this ‘pressure’ that is seemingly at play with him in this moment.
Three goals in 10 appearances so far this season is certainly not the worst return imaginable but it seems that the former Porto man is feeling the weight of trying to add to his goal tally and blank on his assist record.
There’s certainly not a large amount of pressure from our supporters for the performance level of the 26-year-old but if he was hoping a trip to South America would ease his concerns, that’s not been the case.
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Drawing both games has put the Colombians in a tough position within their World Cup qualification group and the heat will be on to right the wrongs of missing out on the Qatar edition last season.
Let’s hope that the Merseyside derby can be the platform that our attacker is needing now though and that we can see a huge boost in his confidence and performance level soon.
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