United Nations Rescues Luis Diaz's Father

The father of Luis Diaz, a forward for Liverpool, has been freed after being handed over to representatives of the United Nations.

In late October, both of Diaz's parents were abducted. His mother was rescued quickly, but his father remained captive for nearly two weeks as Colombian officials and the UN negotiated with the ELN, a Colombian rebel group that was responsible for the kidnapping.

The ELN announced on Wednesday that they agreed to return Luis Manuel Diaz, Diaz's father, safely. The handover has now been completed.

A statement from the Colombian Football Federation expressed gratitude to the National Government, the Military Forces, the National Police, and all other institutions and officials involved in achieving the release of Luis Manuel Diaz.

The statement also emphasized the importance of football as a symbol of talent, dedication, teamwork, and the intrinsic values of human beings. It also reiterated the need for the sport, and those participating in it, to remain a symbol of entertainment, healthy competition, unity and joy, devoid of any non-sport related scenarios.

They also reinforced the belief that no one should ever think of disrupting the peaceful passion that the sport provides to the fans, youth, men, women, and senior players, as well as their families.

In light of these events, Luis Diaz has been training with Liverpool but has stayed away from matches, with manager Jurgen Klopp allowing the Colombian player ample time to mentally recover before considering his return to competitive gameplay.

Next on Liverpool's schedule is a Europa League match against Toulouse on Thursday evening, before they shift their focus to the weekend's Premier League game against Brentford.