Luis Díaz scores for Liverpool FC and then appeals to the kidnappers to release his father: “We are desperate.” Coach Jürgen Klopp is also waiting for the redeeming news after the “wonderful and emotional” moment.
In the Premier League game against blatant outsiders Luton Town on Sunday (November 5th, 2023), Liverpool were 0-1 behind when substitute Díaz headed the 1-1 in stoppage time and thus saved at least one point.
After his goal, he pulled up the jersey and showed a T-shirt with the inscription “Libertad para papa” – “Freedom for Dad”. The Colombian international striker later made an emotional appeal to the kidnappers to release his father “immediately” and to finally end “this painful wait.”
“Our concern grows by the minute”
The 26-year-old Díaz published his request “in the name of love and compassion.” He wrote on Instagram: “Our concern is growing by the minute. My mother, my brothers and I are desperate, afraid and have no words to describe what we feel.” This suffering will “only end when we have him back home.”
Diaz’s parents had been abducted a week earlier at a gas station in their hometown of Barrancas in northern Colombia. While the mother was freed on the same day, the father is apparently in the hands of the ELN guerrilla group.
Encouraging news from Colombia
Jürgen Klopp hugged Díaz after the game. “It was wonderful and emotional and fantastic,” he said of his Joker’s goal, “but it doesn’t solve the real problem.” Díaz is powerless, but the game and training distract him a little.
There is encouraging news from Colombia, “but the one we all want to hear hasn’t been there yet.”