Luis Diaz’s family emotionally celebrate his stoppage-time equaliser for Liverpool against Luton at his grandparents’ house – after Colombian unveiled a ‘freedom for Papa’ plea underneath his football shirt
- The family of the Liverpool forward celebrated his late goal against Luton
- Luis Diaz revealed a shirt calling for his father’s freedom after scoring
- Big debates on Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal on It’s All Kicking Off podcast
The extended family of Luis Diaz emotionally celebrated the Liverpool forward’s equalising goal against Luton on Sunday in the wake of the ongoing manhunt for his father.
Diaz netted the final goal in Liverpool’s Premier League clash against Luton after being recalled by Jurgen Klopp for the trip to Kenilworth Road having recently returning to training.
The player celebrated his goal by showing off an underneath shirt with the words ‘Freedom For My Dad’ inscribed on the piece of clothing in relation to the disappearance of Diaz’s father.
Diaz was paying tribute to his kidnapped father with a poignant message to his captive parent and it appears his family in Colombia felt equally emotional when he scored for Liverpool.
A short video showing the home of the player’s grandparents features a crowd of people inside the house celebrating after Diaz rose highest in the box to head Liverpool back on level terms.
Luis Diaz revealed a shirt calling for his father’s freedom after scoring against Luton
Family members of Diaz celebrate the Liverpool winger equalising against Luton on Sunday evening from the player’s grandparents house
Diaz’s (left) father Luis Manuel (right) is still to be released by left-wing rebel group ELN – but the head of the guerrilla group is reported to have said they made a ‘mistake’ holding the father
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The small group are focused around a television and can be seen pumping the air with their fists and screaming before another member quickly closes the open window.
Earlier the head of the rebel group that kidnapped the footballer’s parents admitted they had made a ‘mistake’ by not freeing his father, Luis Manuel Diaz.
Uniformed military personnel are now working to have Diaz Snr freed and peace talks with the ELN are continuing.
Diaz previously missed Liverpool’s fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth in response to the series of events.
The winger elected to return to training this week and was subsequently named on the bench for Sunday’s match, and his goal denied Luton a first home win of the season.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp attempted to give his player a boost after the game and described the ongoing situation as ‘pretty emotional’ but revealed there have been positive signs regarding the release of Diaz’s father.
Diaz rose highest in the box to score the game’s final goal and deny Luton a first home win of the season
Klopp hugged Diaz at full time after bringing the Colombian winger back into the matchday squad
There are now 150 military personnel on the ground in Barrancas to speed up the release of Diaz’s father
Klopp told Sky Sports: ‘It’s still pretty emotional but Luis decided three days ago that he wanted to try training again. I said before, the training ground, football pitch is the safe place for the boys.
‘There he can behave normal, he can forget for a few minutes at least what’s going on but all the signs he gets as far as I understand it are very positive.
‘Negotiations are ongoing but it’s positive and that’s why he wanted to be part of the team. He could come on again, so he trained well.
‘From that point of view there are no issues but nobody can really imagine how something like that feels, but on the training ground was fine, on the pitch was fine, so that’s why he’s here.’
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