Diaz was informed that his parents were kidnapped by an armed group on Saturday night (October 28) at a gas station in Barrancas, a town in La Guajira, northern Colombia. Diaz’s parents were buying watermelon on the side of the road when they were kidnapped by four armed međťš— on motorbikes.
It is known that the purpose of this kidnapping is to blackmail the Liverpool star. Because of the above problem, Diaz was unable to play in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield’s home field.
Liverpool assistant manager Lijnders has provided an update on how the club are trying to help Diaz following the traumatic incident. “Lucho is a guy who always smiles. We really care about him. We try to support him as much as possible. There are a lot of things that are out of our hands. We pray that they will find his father and everything will be fine. The whole club supports him.”
According to a report from Colombian magazine Semana, Diaz was keen to return to his homeland to try to find his father but he was persuaded by relatives to stay in the UK. This decision was made after there were concerns about the Liverpool striker’s own safety if he chose to return to his native Colombia.
The Colombian National Police and the army stepped in to track down Diaz’s family. His mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued by police from kidnappers within hours after they set up barricades around the town near Colombia’s border with Venezuela. However, Diaz’s father is still missing.