The road back for Luis Diaz to get to this point has been a long and winding one.
Having made something of an electric start to his Liverpool career, the Colombia international was rocked by a challenge from Arsenal's Thomas Partey in a 3-2 defeat at the Emirates on October 9.
At a time when the Reds were besieged with fitness, confidence and energy problems, losing the player who was arguably their best in those opening weeks of the Premier League season was a tough blow to take, particularly for Klopp, who has since watched his entire campaign slowly crumble in the absence of Diaz.
After working his way back to fitness with long and often arduous rehabilitation sessions at the club's AXA Training Centre, a timely post-World Cup return had looked to be on the cards for Diaz, who joined from Porto for an initial £37m in January 2022.
Such was the South American's desire to get back on the pitch as quickly as possible that he was even forsaking planned days off in his schedule in favour of further rehabilitation work before his world came crashing down again in Dubai during a mid-season training session.
Diaz was immediately sent back to Merseyside to undergo surgery on the knee issue that has virtually wrecked his entire term. His partner, Gera Ponce, posted on Instagram at the time under an image of the Liverpool winger laid up in a hospital bed following surgery to correct his lateral collateral ligament.
"Sometimes the difficulties that occur in our life directly prepare us to take an extraordinary path," she wrote. "Now patience and strength are essential. But, above all, the love of the family. We are all here for you, the same as always. And we will see you rise stronger, we love you."
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Klopp was rather less poetic, describing the injury to the skillful frontman as a "proper smash in the face" when speaking to the ECHO in Dubai at the time.
"He is not in the best possible place [mentally], that is clear," Klopp said. "It was a big disappointment for all of us and him as well. It was a nothing situation in training, honestly.
"And he felt something, he didn't feel it a lot the next day but we wanted to be really cautious. So we said: 'come on, let's have a proper look' and then the news came which was a proper smash in the face, but that's it now."
Since then, Diaz has kept a low profile while his team-mates have endured a largely torrid time, particularly in January when Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota were also sidelined to leave Klopp's forward options threadbare.
The odd Instagram update aside, Diaz has been working away from the spotlight, gearing up for a return that will likely come on Monday night at Leeds United.
"It was very hard for us because as a team we want him, we want his skills," Kostas Tsimikas says of Diaz. “He improved all the time with his personality all the time he played. When I played with him, because we play on the same [side of the pitch], he’s an unbelievable player and always helped me. And I help him also.
“Of course I’m very happy for this game, hopefully he plays and hopefully will be in a good shape and he can show us a little bit of the magic he showed us before he got injured.”
The past fortnight or so has him head back to full team training and while Diaz has technically been 'fit' for the last three matches, Klopp has understandably been in no rush to push him back into the thick of things.
A first appearance in a Liverpool match-day squad for 190 days will be the reward for the long hours spent working on his comeback and with the Reds' Champions League hopes all but over, perhaps the expectations on instant performance will be lessened.
Instead, Diaz will have the freedom to take his time in getting back to full speed after such a long time out. As Klopp finally gets full use of his six-man attacking department, the manager might need some time himself to tweak and adjust before a first-choice front three is settled on.
With Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez still relatively new to the Premier League and and Jota coming off a lengthy lay-off of his own, it will be next season now before opposition feel the full damage of the firepower available to Klopp, but there's no doubt the return of Diaz represents a huge boost.
With nine games left of a largely forgettable season for both club and player, the 26-year-old, who is now on comeback's cusp, merely needs to focus on a strong finish from a personal perspective before heading into what will be a critical summer for the club.
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