Liverpool winger Luis Diaz made an emotional Premier League return as he scored stoppage-time equaliser at Luton with his father missing after being kidnapped in Colombia; "Football, in dark moments, can bring joy to people," said Alisson
Monday 6 November 2023 08:10, UK
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson paid tribute to the "inner strength" of his team-mate Luis Diaz, after the winger scored an injury-time equaliser at Luton while his father is missing in Colombia.
Diaz returned to the Liverpool squad for the first time since his father was kidnapped last week by the guerrilla group National Liberation Army, also known as ELN, and dramatically stepped off the bench to head in and grab a 1-1 draw for his side.
While Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said there had been some "positive signs" from South America, where officials are in negotiations with the radical left-wing rebels, Diaz's father's continued absence will have weighed heavy on the player who returned to his homeland last weekend before returning to training this week.
Diaz's intervention at Kenilworth Road was testament to his mental strength, said Alisson, who also noted the power of football to act as a positive distraction. He dedicated a goal he scored in May 2021 to his father, who had died earlier in the year.
"It says a lot about his character, his inner strength," said Alisson about Diaz. "Not many people can imagine what he's going [through] now, even though we are close to him, we are supporting him, we feel his pain but for him it's a different level.
"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.
"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 - who embraced Diaz after the full-time whistle - described the goal as "a wonderful moment" but was keen to underline that all that matters is the safe release of Diaz's father.
"It's a wonderful moment but it doesn't change the situation yet," said the Liverpool boss. "The most important thing is that his father gets released so we don't have to make that now.
"It's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. He wanted to be here and he gets that. But that's it. For us, super important goal and for him very important, of course, and yes very emotional. But that's 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."
