Luis Diaz looked close to tears on the bench during Arsenal game, it's heartbreaking to see

A visibly emotional Luis Diaz was close to tears after being forced off with a knee injury during Saturday's Premier League clash against Arsenal.

The 26-year-old Colombian winger, who spent the majority of last season on the sidelines after undergoing knee surgery, must have feared the worst with an hour played.

Diaz could be seen clutching his left knee after a so-called 'painful' collision, and was soon replaced by Harvey Elliott.

The injury must have invoked gut-wrenching memories of an injury that ruled him out for much of the 2022/23 campaign and, as he sat next to Liverpool teammate Curtis Jones on the bench, he appeared emotional.

"Luis Diaz hasn't been the same since his last injury," said X account @MPBFirmino. "But watching him cry and lost like that pains me so much.

"He has a lot to offer but his confidence is buried at the moment. Hope the injury isn't serious and he finds his form soon."

I hope this video will be a reminder to those fans who forget he is a human being who has been through unimaginable circumstances this year, things almost all of us will never ever experience & also struggled with setbacks in his fitness. pic.twitter.com/LzOkjwdUKr

— Rebekka (@rebekkarnold) December 23, 2023

It has been such a tough period for Diaz. Back in October, his mother and father were taken by armed gunmen on motorbikes while travelling from their home in Barrancas.

His mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued after the Colombian attorney general's office assembled a team of investigators to look for the couple.

Then, after an excruciating week of uncertainty, the player's father, Luis Manuel Diaz, was rescued following a shootout between the kidnappers and the Colombian police.

Local media from the La Guajira region claim Diaz's father was freed following a police rescue mission, which resulted in the deaths of two of the four kidnappers.

Diaz would later score a stoppage-time equaliser against Luton on an emotional return to the Liverpool first-team.

Since that game against Luton, the former FC Porto winger has failed to make much of an impact.

In fact, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher says Diaz looks "a shadow of himself" as he continues to struggle for form.

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast after Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Arsenal, Carragher said: "Diaz just looks a shadow of himself since those knee injuries he had last season.

“Obviously, he’s had family problems this season but I really feel that Diaz, especially on that left side, has got to have a really big second half of the season or I’m sure Liverpool will be going into the market in the summer.”

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, gave an encouraging update on Diaz's knee after Saturday's game.

Asked whether Diaz has an injury, the German replied: "I hope not. He has pain, it was knee on knee and in that moment we wanted to change twice and then Lucho was down.

"And actually we first wanted to wait if maybe Lucho has to come off but then we decided [to] change all three because now we don't have to wait how Lucho is and that's what we did then.

"Lucho told me 'little pain', physios were not too concerned, but you never know and we play in three days and you never know how quick the turnaround is, so we have to see. I don't know."