Izuchukwu Okosi
Forward Set To Play Against Colombia Tuesday
Liverpool have magnanimously flown the parents and wider family of forward Luis Diaz to the city so they can spend Christmas together after a torrid few weeks.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe club’s gesture follows the release of the Colombia international’s father, Luis Manuel Diaz, by kidnappers who had held him hostage for 12 days.
The 26-year-old’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was also taken but was rescued a few hours later.
Diaz was reunited with his father earlier this week when he returned home to play for his country.
In an emotional game, Diaz scored twice in a win against Brazil in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in Barranquilla as his father watched from the stands.
In providing support for Diaz, Liverpool chartered a plane for Diaz and his wider family on Saturday (in Nigeria) to bring them to Merseyside and help the family following their traumatic experience.
The winger will join up with them when he returns from international duty, with Colombia away to Paraguay on Tuesday.
Diaz missed two Liverpool games while his father was being held by Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group after being abducted on 28 October.
The winger then came off the bench to score an equaliser during added time in a 1-1 Premier League draw at Luton on 5 November.
After his goal, he pulled up his Liverpool shirt to show a T-shirt underneath bearing the message “freedom for papa” prior to his father’s release.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
