Luis Diaz: Alisson and Jurgen Klopp pay tribute to Colombian’s strength after scoring while his father is still missing
winger for Liverpool With his father missing after being kidnapped in Colombia, Luis Diaz made an emotional Premier League return, scoring a stoppage-time equalizer at Luton Town. “Football, in dark moments, can bring joy to people,” Alisson said.
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson praised his teammate Luis Diaz’s “inner strength” after the winger scored an injury-time equalizer at Luton Town while his father is missing in Colombia.
Diaz returned to the Liverpool squad for the first time since his father was kidnapped by the guerrilla group National Liberation Army, also known as ELN, last week, and came off the bench to head in and earn his team a 1-1 draw.
While Reds manager Jurgen Klopp said there had been “positive signs” from South America, where officials are in talks with radical left-wing rebels, Diaz’s father’s continued absence will have weighed heavily on the player, who returned home last weekend before returning to training this week.
Diaz’s intervention at Kenilworth Road demonstrated his mental strength, according to Alisson, who also emphasized the power of football to serve as a positive distraction. He dedicated a goal in May 2021 to his father, who died earlier that year.
“It says a lot about his character, about his inner strength,” Alisson said of Diaz. “Not many people can imagine what he’s going through right now, even though we’re close to him, supporting him, and feeling his pain, but it’s on a different level for him.”
“Football, sometimes, in the dark moments can bring joy to people, can bring joy to somebody who is struggling. I think football is bringing a slice of joy to Lucho at this time.
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“We are together with him for whatever he needs, to take his time. He came, he trained, came to the game, scored a fantastic goal for us that was really important and we are with him 100 per cent.
“Football always surprises, in a good way sometimes. It happened with me when I was going through a really difficult moment. It happened today, it happened other times for other people.
“When you are on the pitch you are focused on doing your job, trying to help the team to get points. He did it for us, he did it.”
Klopp: There is still room for improvement in Colombia.
Klopp, who embraced Diaz after the game, called the goal “a wonderful moment,” but emphasized that the most important thing is Diaz’s father’s safe release.
“It’s a wonderful moment, but it doesn’t change the situation yet,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “The most important thing is that his father is released so that we don’t have to make that decision right now.”
“It’s fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.” He wanted to be here, and he understands why. But that’s all there is to it. For us, it’s a huge goal, and for him, it’s huge, too, and yes, emotional. But that’s all there is to it.
“He always can do that when he’s on the pitch. He’s always involved in special things, this season as well. So yeah, of course we knew he’d be a threat. We didn’t know exactly how long he can play because he only had a few sessions with the team. But that’s all fine. That’s not the important part today. He scored the goal, that’s wonderful. But we need still some improvement in Colombia.”
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