Luis Díaz's Struggles Continue at Bayern: Frustration Grows

Luis Díaz’s early-season slump has stopped being a curiosity and started to irritate people at Bayern.

According to Sport1, the Colombian’s performances in this still-young campaign have caused “bewilderment” inside the club. The winger is getting into the right areas. He is just not finishing. And the misses are now piling up in a way that is impossible to ignore.

The goalless draw against FC Schalke 04 was the first real flashpoint. Bayern’s hierarchy were said to be unhappy after that game, and not only with Díaz. The entire frontline lacked conviction in front of Loris Karius. Yet Díaz again stood out for the wrong reasons, his wastefulness reinforcing the narrative that has begun to cling to him.

Then came Sunday and SV Elversberg. A narrow 2-1 win, three points secured, but another chapter in Díaz’s personal struggle.

The chance that said everything

At 1-1 in the 67th minute, Michael Olise split the Elversberg defence with a superb ball into the box. He picked out Díaz in space, the kind of situation elite wingers dream about. Control, finish, celebrate. Simple.

Díaz miscontrolled slightly, then tried to rescue the moment with a backheel finish. It looked audacious. It ended up wasteful.

A first-time strike seemed the obvious choice. Josip Stanisic certainly thought so. TV cameras caught the Croatian already throwing his arms up in celebration as the pass arrived, convinced the net was about to bulge. When Díaz’s improvised flick went wrong, Stanisic’s expression turned instantly. Fury, disbelief, a wild lash of frustration. No words needed.

To Díaz’s right, Harry Kane had peeled into the perfect position, ready for a simple tap-in if the ball came his way instead of the backheel attempt. He did not hide his annoyance either. The England captain made his feelings clear to his teammate in the aftermath of the miss.

Five minutes later, Kane did what Kane does. A sharp turn, a clean strike, 2-1 Bayern. The contrast was brutal.

A familiar pattern returns

The numbers behind Díaz’s wastefulness are no longer a footnote. According to statistics portal FotMob, the Elversberg miss was already his sixth big chance squandered in just three Bundesliga appearances this season.

The problem is not confined to the league. In the Champions League against Bodø/Glimt and in the DFB-Pokal against VfL Osnabrück, Díaz also had opportunities to get on the scoresheet. He failed to take them. His only goal of the season so far came on the opening matchday against VfB Stuttgart, when he rounded off a 5-1 win – on a night when he had already passed up two excellent chances.

For Bayern, this is an uncomfortable throwback. When Díaz first arrived from Liverpool, he briefly carried the reputation of a serial chance-misser. The raw talent was obvious, the chaos he created undeniable, but the final touch often went missing.

Then something clicked. He turned that chaos into end product and grew into one of Europe’s most dangerous wide forwards, finishing last season with 26 goals and 23 assists. Those numbers changed the conversation around him entirely. They also raised expectations to a level where this current run feels even more jarring.

Eberl backs his man – and the odds

Inside Säbener Straße, the mood is not yet one of panic. Frustration, yes. Concern, naturally. But there is also the firm belief that a player with Díaz’s track record does not simply forget how to finish.

Board member for sport Max Eberl struck that balance after the Elversberg game: a touch of humour, a clear message of support.

“Should I, as a former defender who never scored a goal, tell Lucho Díaz how he should score a goal better?” he said, referencing his own barren record – no goals in 104 top-flight and 111 second-division matches for Bochum, Fürth and Gladbach. “Lucho doesn’t have the momentum at the moment.”

Eberl did not single Díaz out as the sole culprit either. “We missed several chances today,” he stressed, before adding the line Bayern will hope proves prophetic: “At some point his drought will end again too.”

That is the bet now. That this is a storm to be ridden out, not a deeper regression. The positions Díaz is taking up, the volume of chances he is getting, all suggest the dam will eventually burst.

Until it does, though, every miscontrol, every dragged shot, every failed flourish will feel heavier. At a club where margins are thin and patience even thinner, how long can a player of his stature afford to keep asking for one more chance?