Liverpool star Luis Diaz remained absent from the matchday squad to deal with the developing situation involving his parents’ kidnapping back home in Colombia. Diaz’s family members were kidnapped on Saturday, October 28, 2023, and while his mother was later rescued by the authorities, his father remains missing at the time of writing. (More Football News)
Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp addressed the situation to the media, claiming it had been a “tough night” for him and his team.
“We had to make a late change because of the private situation of Luis Diaz, which is of course worrying for all of us,” Klopp said.
“It was a pretty tough night, to be honest, but now we are here and we have to concentrate on football, which we will do, but it was a pretty special preparation, to be honest. I’ve never had that before and I’ve had a few games; it’s a new experience I never needed.”
The Colombian authorities ramped up their search effort for Diaz’s father on Sunday morning, even offering those providing relevant information pertaining to the case a reward of 200 million pesos.
Liverpool, sans Diaz, beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 in their tenth Premier League game of the 2023-24 season, one which Klopp dedicated to his distressed colleague.
“How can you make a football game really important on a day like this? It’s really difficult. I never struggled with that, it was always my safe place,” he said after the game.
“But it was impossible to do that so we had to give the game an extra sense. That was fighting for Lucho.”
