Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson paid tribute to the “inner strength” of his teammate Luis Diaz after the winger scored an injury-time equalizer 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 heavily on the player who returned to his homeland last weekend before returning to training this week.
Diaz’s intervention at Kenilworth Road was a 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.”
