Luis Diaz's Struggles Amid Bayern's Celebrations

The music from Bayern’s dressing room was still thudding through the concrete when Harry Kane finally stepped out into the Munich night, gingerbread heart in hand, the iced “100” on the front already half-smudged. It was just after midnight, and the scoreboard from the Allianz Arena still felt barely believable: Bayern 7, Union Berlin 0.

Inside, they had been taking turns with the speeches.

“The coach had us give a few speeches in the dressing room,” Kane said, still grinning. Michael Olise had just scored his first hat-trick for the club. Ismael Saibari had his first Bayern goal. Kane himself had reached 100 for the club. Serge Gnabry was back from injury. A night of milestones, a night made for noise.

When someone asked whose speech was the shortest, Kane laughed and nodded towards Olise.

No surprises there.

One man out of step with the party

Amid the celebrations, one figure slipped away quietly. Luis Diaz left the stadium without a word, his expression giving nothing away. No outburst, no theatrics. Just a forward walking alone through a corridor lined with grinning team-mates and staff.

The contrast was brutal. While one attacking star after another piled up numbers and storylines, Diaz again walked off with nothing to show. No goal, no assist. No release.

The question hangs in the air now: when did Luis Diaz last score for Bayern?

You have to go back to the opening day of the Bundesliga season, to his goal for 5-1 against VfB Stuttgart. Since then, five straight games without a decisive contribution. In some of those matches, he did more than just fail to score – he missed, and badly.

Against Schalke, against Osnabrück in the cup, against Bodö/Glimt in the Champions League, he squandered clear chances. The most painful moment came last weekend at Elversberg. Olise had slipped him in perfectly in the box. Instead of finishing first time, Diaz seemed to search for something spectacular, juggling options in his head, and ended up producing only a tame backheel. Josip Stanisic’s anger was instant and obvious.

Against Union, his most eye-catching action came when he finally did what everyone has been begging him to do: he finished Bayern’s best move of the night. The net rippled, the stadium roared – and then the flag went up. Offside. Again, nothing on the scoresheet.

Broken promise

In the build-up, Diaz had tried to sound defiant. In an interview with Sky/RTL he had set himself a clear target.

“I think that goal will come in the next game,” he said. “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. The promise went unkept.

Now he has to wait. His next opportunity will not come until 10 October, away at FC Augsburg. First come the international fixtures – without him. Colombia head coach Nestor Lorenzo, in agreement with Diaz, has decided to leave him out. Not as punishment, but as a pause.

Diaz gets special leave.

He needs it. Last season he played 51 competitive games for Bayern, with a remarkable return: 26 goals, 23 assists. On top of that came 16 appearances for Colombia, with seven goals and three assists. It was an exhausting, relentless year.

Even at the World Cup, where he helped Colombia reach the last 16, his finishing had already started to creak. Back in Munich, the problem hardened. The runs were still there, the work rate too, but the sharpness in front of goal dulled. Against Union, he barely even reached the positions to miss from.

The numbers tell the story. According to Sofascore, Diaz has already missed six big chances in the Bundesliga alone. After four league matchdays, his expected goals stood at 3.1 – without a single strike to show for it in that stretch.

Compare that with his team-mates. Kane has three league goals from an xG of 2.17. Olise, Bayern’s early-season revelation, has four from an xG of 2.65. Across all competitions, the Frenchman already sits on eight goals and three assists. Saibari, who replaced Diaz in the 63rd minute against Union, has one goal and three assists in just 178 Bundesliga minutes.

While others turn chances into headlines, Diaz watches his own figures stall.

“Some would be glad if they had a dip like his”

Inside the club, though, there is no public panic. Max Eberl, Bayern’s board member for sport, framed the break as a smart reset rather than a rescue mission.

“Some would be glad if they had a dip like his,” Eberl said on Friday, before spelling out the logic. In South America, the current international matches are not essential for Diaz, he argued, and after so many games last season, a breather makes sense.

Diaz will “first have 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.

Curiously, Diaz himself had hinted before the season that something like this might happen. In that same Sky/RTL interview, he admitted he would have welcomed a genuine competitor for his position.

“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.”

Bayern had indeed planned to bring in a proper back-up for the left wing. Then, shortly before the transfer window closed, they instead loaned Arijon Ibrahimovic to FC Augsburg. The decision surprised the 20-year-old and left Diaz as the only natural option on that flank.

So are Bayern now forced to rethink in winter?

“Where did Isi score his goal from today?” Eberl shot back when asked if the club might look again for a left-sided attacker. The answer was obvious. Saibari had struck from the left side of the penalty area.

The Moroccan is not a classic winger – he lacks the raw pace. But his intelligence, vision and technique mean he can slot into almost any attacking role. Gnabry can also operate off the left. On paper, Diaz is no longer as alone as he once was.

A familiar escape route

For now, though, his starting spot is not under immediate threat. Vincent Kompany has been rotating heavily and will continue to do so, especially with several midweek rounds looming after the break. Stars will sit, stars will return, and Diaz will get chances.

He has been here before.

This is not the first time Bayern have sent him away mid-season to clear his head. Back in December 2025, he was suspended in the Champions League after a red card and also picked up his fifth yellow in the Bundesliga. With no games for him to play, Kompany made a call.

He sent Diaz off for a few days.

“I think it is simply sensible now that he is away for a few days and then comes back mentally and physically at one hundred per cent,” the coach explained back then.

The effect was striking. Diaz returned from that short break recharged and delivered an excellent second half of the campaign.

Now he disappears again, only this time much earlier in the season and with a different kind of weight on his shoulders. Bayern’s dressing room is booming, the goals are flowing, the records keep falling.

When he walks back into that room after his holiday, will he still be the sad figure among the fortunate ones – or the next man to grab the microphone and finally have something to celebrate?