This is Liverpool's best attacker right now, IMO. Not goal-scorer or creator or whatever... but this is who they should want to have the ball at his feet. Seems to create something out of nothing all the time.
It’s time for Lucho’s 5️⃣0️⃣th appearance for the Reds 🤩 pic.twitter.com/5Dyo2RZ60h— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 27, 2023
update on Luis' father ... https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67257588 Luis Diaz: Major military and police search under way for Liverpool player's father
Echo: Colombian authorities believe the father of Liverpool winger Luis Diaz remains in the country and claim to have identified several people who have participated in the kidnapping. Luis Manuel Diaz remains missing after the family van in which he was travelling with his wife Cilenis Marulanda was ambushed on Saturday night, with air and land capabilities of the Colombia national police, in co-ordination with the country's military forces, having been deployed to aid the rescue. A report in El Tiempo has stated around 230 elite police and army commandos are now part of the search which also includes a Black Hawk helicopter and the use of an airplane with heat-detection sensors.
Some damn reports were publishing yesterday that the Colombian police (or special police) had rescued him in a shootout where they killed a couple of kidnappers. I guess that was just some part of the trail??? Unless it was just a bogus story. Anyone else come across that?
Are his parents involved in something sketchy? Were they targeted by the kidnappers for something they were involved in? Random chance? Or is it Luis' high profile that make his parents targets? Too many questions... Praying that the whole thing is resolved soon!
Colombia (particularly) and Brazil have a long standing problem with relatives of high profile (read "rich") people being targeted for ransom kidnappings. Also- they are from a fairly remote part of Colombia - so an easier target for criminal gangs to scope out. Since the peace agreements in Colombia in the past 10 years, a lot of previously "employed" right and left semi-terrorists have found themselves needing new ways of maintaining a lifestyle.....
update ... (as this states, Luis in fact stayed in the UK) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...s-in-abduction-of-luiz-diazs-father-liverpool Colombian police have identified two of the four men who kidnapped the father of the Colombian footballer Luis Díaz as security forces race to prevent his captors smuggling him into neighbouring Venezuela. The director of the national police, Gen William Salamanca, joined soldiers in operation padlock on Monday as they swept the cloud forests of the Perijá mountain range bordering Venezuela for clues of Díaz Sr’s whereabouts. A force of a least 200 members of Colombia’s security forces have been mobilised, including elite ground troops and specialist pilots who are searching from the air. Police forces have also been searching house by house in the surrounding area of the abduction for any information that could lead to recovering Díaz Sr safely and have offered a $48,000 (£39,000) reward for information. Gen Alejandro Zapata, deputy director of the national police, told a press conference in Bogotá on Monday that the mountains would not be easy to cross on foot but that it would be a logical objective of the kidnappers to get him out of the country and out of the reach of Colombian authorities. “We do not have any evidence at the moment [to indicate] that he has crossed the border, we cannot affirm it, but we cannot rule it out either,” he said. “It is very possible that they will look for the possibility of escaping there.” Colombian intelligence is working with Interpol’s office in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, but has no confirmation that Díaz Sr has left the country, Zapata said. And no phone calls have been made requesting money in exchange for his freedom, a spokesperson for Colombia’s national anti-extortion unit has confirmed. Veneuzela has become a haven for armed groups in the past decade as the country’s economy has collapsed and some guerrilla groups work in cahoots with the military in illegal rackets such as gold mining and drug smuggling. Colombian security forces often blame the lack of law and order in Venezuela for upsurges in organised crime as mafias can easily slip back across the border after committing robbery or extortion in Colombia. Feli Ureche, one of Díaz Sr’s cousins, told Bogotá-based W radio station that Díaz Sr had received threats before his abduction and the shock of his kidnapping has caused an outpouring of solidarity across Colombia. The nation was the kidnapping capital of the world in the 1990s and 2000s but has become far safer in recent decades and the country’s largest guerillas group finally put down their guns in 2016 as part of a landmark peace process. Díaz remains at home with other members of his family in England. Liverpool’s assistant manager, Pepijn Lijnders, declined to go into detail about what support the club is giving the 26-year-old at a press conference on Tuesday, but insisted Díaz knows he has everyone’s backing. “Lucho is the guy who always smiles and has an unbelievable relationship with everybody. We really care about him,” Lijnders said. “The only thing now for us is we try to support him as much as we can. A lot of things are out of our hands – what’s completely normal. We hope that the authorities there can find his dad and that everything is good. We just pray for that. “It’s not for me to sit here and tell the world what we are doing for Lucho. As long as he feels our support and knows that we are doing the right things, that the whole club is behind him. It is up to the authorities there to deal with it and we hear they are trying everything. The most important thing is that his family are OK.”
The Colombian government says that the father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz was kidnapped by left-wing rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67300987 edit: seems like it was an unauthorized action by one cell of these ELN people. whoever did it, they'll do their cause no good whatsoever unless they release him, safe and sound, asap.
hope so, although the Mail is a less than stellar source. edit: seems like some good Colombian sources are saying the same. great if accurate!
It would appear that The Daily Heil’s use of “about to released” and the common understanding of that phrase are not the same thing. But that’s hardly a surprise.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will allow Luis Diaz to decide whether he is able to play this weekend following his father's kidnapping in Colombia. Klopp confirmed Diaz, 26, returned to training on Wednesday as the Reds prepare to face Luton on Sunday. Luis Manuel Diaz and his wife were seized at gunpoint on Saturday. Diaz's mother was found in Barrancas but his father remains missing. "We will wait to see how he is and go from there," Klopp said. "We will not force the situation - it's out of our hands," he added. "If he feels right, he will train with us. When he's with the boys he's fine but you can tell he hasn't slept a lot. "He was in training two days ago and yesterday did a session."
Sounds like good news: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...r-kidnapped-eln-guerillas-colombia-government
Problem is, that story is two days old. And there hasn't been any movement since. I do understand that there's probably a lot of background so happening, but it seems a little crazy not to just release him.
sounds like some positive moves happening ... but still dicey .... from the Echo today: ELN have suggested Mr Diaz's release is only being delayed due to the heavy police presence that has over 200 units working around the clock in the region. A statement that was signed by unit leader, Commander Jose Manuel Martinez Quiroz, read: “On November 2, we informed the country of the decision to release Mr. Luis Manuel Diaz, father of the player Luis Diaz. From that date, we began the process to accomplish this as soon as possible. We are making efforts to avoid incidents with government forces. “The area is still militarised, they are carrying out flyovers, disembarking troops, broadcasting and offering rewards as part of an intense search operation. This situation is not allowing for the execution of the release plan quickly and safely, where Mr. Luis Manuel Diaz is not at risk. "If operations continue in the area, they will delay the release and increase the risks. We understand the anguish of the Diaz-Marulanda family, to whom we say that we will keep our word to release him unilaterally, as soon as we have security guarantees for the development of the liberation operation.”
someone on Twitter is saying his Dad has been released. edit: pics of his Dad with a priest, saying he's been returned. excellent news!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67372903 Father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz freed by Colombian guerrillas after kidnapping, police sources and local media say
Liverpool have flown the parents and wider family of Luis Diaz to the city so they can spend Christmas together. In providing support for Diaz, Liverpool chartered a plane for Diaz and his wider family on Friday 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. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67461455