Bayern had plenty to celebrate in the dressing room. After a 7-0 win like that, the reasons soon stack up. "The coach had a few of us give speeches in the dressing room," Harry Kane reported a few minutes after midnight on Friday, as the German record champions' last player to leave after the rout against Union Berlin did so clutching a gingerbread heart iced with 100 to mark his latest fabulous record. "Michael scored his first hat-trick for us, Isi (Saibari, ed.) scored his first goal for Bayern, I got my 100th goal, Serge Gnabry is back after his injury," Kane said in high spirits, adding with a laugh that Olise's speech had been the shortest.
No surprises there.
What Luis Diaz made of the other attacking stars speaking in front of the assembled squad about their achievements is not known. He left the Allianz Arena without any further comment. The contrast could hardly have been sharper. On one side came reason after reason to cheer and celebrate, on the other stood Luis Diaz, the striker who currently seems to attract misfortune. The sad figure among all the fortune-favoured ones.
When did Luis Diaz score his last goal for Bayern Munich?
At least one thing stood out: he did not look dejected after another frustrating evening for the Munich side, his fifth in a row. Since his goal for 5-1 in the Bundesliga opener against Stuttgart, the 29-year-old has produced nothing of note in the matches since. Worse still, against Schalke, Osnabrück in the cup and Bodö/Glimt in the Champions League, he also squandered some very high-quality chances. Last week, after coming on in Elversberg, he drew the anger of his team-mate Josip Stanisic when, perfectly picked out by Michael Olise in the penalty area, he did not simply shoot at goal but instead seemed somehow to have several spectacular tricks in mind before managing only a little backheel effort.
This time, his most notable moment came when he did finish what had been Munich's best move up to that point, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
By going another game without a goal or assist, Diaz broke the promise he had made in an interview with Sky/RTL. "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 thing is to keep working on it, to improve. I know it is only the finishing. Only the final touch is missing - and then it will be fine."
Getty ImagesHow well do Luis Diaz's team-mates at Bayern take their chances?
Diaz will now have to wait until 10 October for his next chance to turn things around. International matches come before the game at Augsburg. And Luis Diaz has been granted special leave. Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo, in consultation with his striker, decided not to call him up. Diaz is meant to rest after an extremely energy-sapping previous season with 51 appearances for Bayern, in which he managed an extraordinary 26 goals and 23 assists, plus another 16 matches for the Colombia national team (7 goals, 3 assists).
Even during the World Cup, when Diaz reached the last 16 with Colombia, he struggled with his chance conversion, and in the first weeks after his return to Munich that problem intensified, until he barely got any chances against Union.
Still, according to Sofascore's data, he has already missed six big chances in the Bundesliga alone, and after the first four Bundesliga matchdays he had also posted an expected goals value of 3.1. By comparison, Harry Kane has so far scored three times from an xG of 2.17, while the outstanding Michael Olise has four goals from an xG of 2.65. Across all competitions, Olise already has eight goals and three assists. Ismael Saibari, too, who came on for Diaz against Union in the 63rd minute, has one goal and three assists from his first four Bundesliga games in just 178 minutes of action.
Did Luis Diaz perhaps even see this dip in form coming?
"Some would be glad if they had a dip like his," Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl said soothingly on Friday and explained: "In South America, the international matches are not absolutely essential now and it is simply good for the player at the moment. He has simply had a great many games. So in that respect it is nice." Diaz will "go on a bit of holiday first and then get going again. He will have his programme. There is no need to worry that he will not come back fit," said Eberl.
Curiously, Luis Diaz seems at least to have factored in the possibility of a dip in performance at the start of this season. In the interview with Sky/RTL, he even revealed that he would quite have liked a back-up in his position. "Of course I always want to play. But if there is someone there who can help in my position: welcome. It helps a lot when things are not going well. Then your 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 good as we are too."
Getty ImagesLuis Diaz has already been given special leave once before at Bayern
Bayern had in fact planned, and said so, that they would go into the season with such a back-up for Diaz. But shortly before the end of the transfer window, they loaned Arijon Ibrahimovic to Augsburg, much to the surprise of the 20-year-old as well. "From where did Isi score his goal today?" Eberl replied on Friday when asked whether Bayern might perhaps think again in winter about a back-up for Diaz, given that his left-wing position is nominally the only one not covered twice over.
Eberl's question was rhetorical because, of course, Saibari had scored from the left side of the penalty area. The Moroccan is not, of course, a winger, as he lacks the pace for that. However, he is so intelligent in his play, has such a good eye and possesses such fine technique that he really could theoretically play in any attacking position. Serge Gnabry can also deputise for Diaz in his position. For the time being, Diaz does not really need to worry about his place in the team, Vincent Kompany is likely to keep rotating in the coming games to give all the stars as similar game time as possible, and after the international break there will also be several midweek rounds in succession.
Incidentally, this is not the first time Luis Diaz has been given a holiday in the middle of the season. In December 2025, he was suspended in the Champions League because of a red card and had also picked up his fifth yellow card in the Bundesliga, so coach Vincent Kompany sent him "away 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 had explained at the time.
Back then Diaz did return full of drive and went on to have a very good second half of the season. Will history repeat itself, only much earlier in the campaign?