Luis Diaz's Struggles Amid Bayern's Success
In a corner of the Allianz Arena dressing room, Bayern’s forwards were taking turns with the microphone.
Harry Kane, last to leave the stadium just after midnight, clutched a gingerbread heart iced with a bold “100” and rattled off the reasons to smile. Michael Olise’s first hat-trick for the club. Ismael Saibari’s first Bayern goal. His own 100th strike. Serge Gnabry finally back from injury. When asked whose speech was shortest, Kane grinned: Olise’s, of course.
Laughter, music, the glow of a 7-0 demolition of Union Berlin.
And then there was Luis Diaz.
A striker out of sync
Diaz slipped out of the arena without a word. No quotes, no smiles, no gingerbread. The contrast could hardly have been starker: a room full of players riding the crest of a wave, and one forward who cannot seem to get his head above water.
His drought now stretches back to the opening day of the Bundesliga season, when he scored Bayern’s fifth in a 5-1 win over VfB Stuttgart. Since then? Five games, no goals, no assists, and a mounting sense that the ball no longer trusts him in front of goal.
It is not just the numbers. The misses have grown more painful with each outing. Against Schalke, Osnabrück in the cup, and Bodö/Glimt in the Champions League, Diaz squandered clear chances. The low point came last weekend in Elversberg: picked out perfectly in the box by Olise, he ignored the obvious shot, tried to improvise something spectacular and managed only a tame backheel. Josip Stanisic’s anger said what everyone else was thinking.
Against Union, Diaz finally finished off what had been Bayern’s best move of the match – only to see the flag go up for offside. His most eye-catching contribution wiped away in an instant.
The goalless run also made a liar of him, at least on paper. In an interview with Sky/RTL before the game, Diaz had promised: “I think that goal will come in the next game. You also have to stay calm mentally so it does not weigh on you. The important thing is to keep working on it, to improve. I know that it is only the chance conversion. It is only the finish that is missing - and then it will be fine.”
The finish is still missing.
Numbers that cut both ways
The data underlines the problem. According to Sofascore, Diaz has already missed six big chances in the Bundesliga alone. After four league matchdays, his expected-goals tally stood at 3.1. On another day, that might mean three or four goals and a very different story.
Instead, he looks up at team-mates who are making every touch count. Kane has three league goals from an xG of 2.17. Olise, in blistering form, has four from 2.65 in the Bundesliga and eight goals plus three assists across all competitions. Saibari, who replaced Diaz in the 63rd minute against Union, has already produced one goal and three assists in just 178 Bundesliga minutes.
While the others surf the wave, Diaz keeps swallowing water.
Yet this is not some anonymous squad player feeling the heat. This is the same Luis Diaz who dragged defences all over Europe last season, playing 51 times for Bayern, scoring 26 goals and laying on 23 more. Add another 16 matches for Colombia, with seven goals and three assists, and you have a winger who spent the year living at the edge of exhaustion.
Even at the World Cup, where he helped Colombia reach the last 16, his chance conversion faltered. The warning signs were there. Back in Munich, the issue sharpened, and by the time Union arrived he was barely getting on the end of chances at all.
Rest, not rejection
Now comes a pause. Diaz will not play again until 10 October, when Bayern travel to FC Augsburg. Before that, the international break. For him, though, there will be no flights to South America.
In agreement with Diaz, Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo has decided to leave him out of the squad. Bayern’s board member for sport, Max Eberl, backed the move.
“Some would be glad if they had a dip like his,” Eberl said on Friday, before spelling out the logic. The South American qualifiers are “not absolutely necessary now” and Diaz has “just had a lot of games”. A short break, Eberl argued, is “simply good for the player”.
Diaz will get “a bit of a holiday and then get going again. He will have his programme. There is no need to worry that he will not come back fit,” Eberl insisted.
This is not uncharted territory. In December 2025, Diaz sat out after a Champions League red card and a fifth yellow in the Bundesliga. Coach Vincent Kompany used the enforced absence to send him away for a few days. At the time, Kompany explained that he wanted his winger to return “mentally and physically at one hundred per cent”.
Diaz came back then with a vengeance and delivered a strong second half of the season. Bayern will hope the script repeats, just earlier in the campaign.
The back-up that never came
Curiously, Diaz himself seemed to anticipate a rocky spell. In that same Sky/RTL interview, he openly admitted he would have welcomed direct competition on the left.
“Of course I always want to play,” he said. “But if someone is there who can help in my position: welcome. That helps a lot when things are not going well. Then the team-mate is there to help you - and that way you alternate. That is very important. I would have liked it. But fine, it did not happen. We are still good as we are.”
The club had actually planned to give him that support. Bayern made no secret of their intention to go into the season with a dedicated back-up for Diaz. Then, just before the transfer window closed, they loaned Arijon Ibrahimovic to FC Augsburg. The decision surprised the 20-year-old and left Diaz’s flank as the only position not formally doubled up.
When asked on Friday whether Bayern might revisit the idea of a left-wing reinforcement in January, Eberl responded with a question of his own: “Where did Isi score his goal from today?”
The answer was obvious. Saibari had struck from the left side of the box.
The Moroccan is not a classic winger – he lacks the raw pace – but he sees the game quickly, uses the ball intelligently and owns the kind of close control that lets him slot into almost any attacking role. Gnabry, too, can cover Diaz’s position when needed.
So the safety net exists, even if it is stitched together from players who prefer other roles. For now, though, Diaz’s place in the hierarchy is not under immediate threat. Kompany is expected to keep rotating heavily in the coming weeks, with several midweek fixtures stacked after the break. The minutes will still be there.
Waiting for the spark
The situation around Diaz is a paradox. On the one hand, his form has dipped, his finishing deserted him, and his confidence in front of goal has clearly taken a hit. On the other, he remains a key figure in a squad that is scoring freely and winning big.
Eberl’s line that “some would be glad if they had a dip like his” is not just protection. It is also a reminder of the standard Diaz has set. A few months ago, 26 goals and 23 assists made him one of Europe’s most productive wide players. Now, the same player is being measured against a handful of misfires and a short barren run.
Bayern have decided not to panic. No public dressing-down, no demotion. Just rest, a tailored programme, and the belief that his finishing will eventually realign with his underlying numbers.
The dressing room speeches on Thursday night belonged to others. Kane with his century, Olise with his hat-trick, Saibari with his breakthrough, Gnabry with his return.
Diaz will have to wait for his turn at the microphone.
The question is simple: when Bayern walk out in Augsburg on 10 October, will the break have given him back the one thing that has deserted him – that split-second certainty in front of goal?
