Liverpool assistant boss Pepijn Lijnders says the club are doing all they can to support Luis Diaz while the search for his kidnapped father goes on.
Luis Manuel Diaz and his wife were abducted by armed men on motorbikes in Barrancas, Colombia, on Saturday. The Liverpool forward’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued within hours by police but the father is still missing.
Air and land patrols have been searching a mountain range that straddles Colombia’s border with Venezuela and police have offered a $48,000 (£39,000) reward for information leading to the rescue of the 26-year-old’s father.
Now, Lijnders has spoken about the matter ahead of the Reds’ Carabao Cup fourth-round clash at Bournemouth on Wednesday.
“You guys know Lucho [Diaz], he’s an incredible player, everybody can see that. We knew this when we got him but then the whole of England could see it and the whole of the world saw it. But then you see him here in the building and he’s the guy who always smiles, he’s the guy who has with everybody an unbelievable relationship,” he said.
“So we really care about him. 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 that they can find his dad and that everything is good. We just pray for that.
“It’s not for me sitting here and tell the world what we are doing for Lucho. As long as we know that we are doing the right thing for him because he’s one of us. I think the team responded after our goal [versus Nottingham Forest] brilliantly with putting the shirt up for him. I think that was a nice gesture.
“That he just knows that we are here for him. And then how the stadium reacted, that was special as well. The whole fan base is behind us as well. Our motto is ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Let’s just pray and hope that everything is quickly to a good situation again.”
FIFA and the Colombian Football Federation have offered support to Diaz, while Liverpool have allowed him to return home. After their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend, where his team-mates paid tribute to the winger, manager Jurgen Klopp said preparation for the match was the “most difficult” he’d had in his entire life as he was so concerned about Diaz and his family.
