{"id":296271,"date":"2023-11-06T18:25:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=296271"},"modified":"2023-11-06T18:25:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:25:34","slug":"luis-diaz-playing-is-bravest-thing-a-footballer-has-done-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/luis-diaz-playing-is-bravest-thing-a-footballer-has-done-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Diaz playing is &apos;bravest thing&apos; a footballer has done this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Luis Diaz playing this weekend is the &#8216;bravest thing&#8217; a footballer has done this season, Ian Ladyman tells Mail Sport&#8217;s It&#8217;s All Kicking Off podcast&#8230; with the Liverpool star&#8217;s father still missing after kidnapping in Colombia<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Luis Diaz returned to action with Liverpool this weekend and scored an equaliser\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>His father remains in the hands of his captors after being kidnapped in Colombia<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Liverpool&#8217;s Luis Diaz is extraordinary &#8211; Listen here to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off podcast\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Luis Diaz&#8217;s decision to play for Liverpool at Luton while his father remains missing following a kidnapping was the &#8216;bravest thing&#8217; a player has done this season, according to Ian Ladyman.<\/p>\n<p><span>Mail Sport&#8217;s<\/span> Football Editor was effusive in his praise of the Colombian winger for his mental strength in deciding to play at Kenilworth Road on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the It&#8217;s All Kicking Off podcast, Ladyman described the decision to play by Diaz as &#8216;extraordinary&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Liverpool&#8217;s equaliser scored by Luis Diaz,&#8217; Ladyman began.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;His father is still missing in Colombia, kidnapped by a group who go by the name of the National Liberation Army.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/16\/77450623-12716429-Diaz_revealed_a_t_shirt_with_the_words_Libertad_Para_Papa_Freedo-a-16_1699288046251.jpg\" height=\"460\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Luis Diaz chose to play for Liverpool at the weekend and when he scored their equaliser he revealed a T-shirt with the words &#8216;Libertad Para Papa&#8217; (&#8216;Freedom for Papa&#8217;) under his jersey<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/16\/77354903-12716429-Diaz_s_left_father_Luis_Manuel_right_is_still_to_be_released_by_-a-17_1699288078206.jpg\" height=\"518\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Diaz&#8217;s father Luis Manuel (right) is still to be released by left-wing rebel group ELN &#8211; but the head of the guerrilla group is reported to have said they made a &#8216;mistake&#8217; holding the father<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/16\/77463689-12716429-image-a-15_1699288043365.jpg\" height=\"354\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ian Ladyman said on Mail Sport&#8217;s It&#8217;s All Kicking Off podcast that Diaz&#8217;s decision to play at the weekend, given the circumstances, is the &#8216;bravest&#8217; thing he has seen from a player this season<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He didn&#8217;t play last week because he&#8217;s, for obvious reasons, he wasn&#8217;t mentally right.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He came off the bench [at Luton], he scores the equaliser. I happen to think, and I&#8217;m not, this is not hyperbole, I don&#8217;t think, I think that is the bravest thing I&#8217;ve seen from a footballer this season.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has since revealed that Diaz\u00a0told his team-mates he does not want them to suffer with him and urged them to use his unimaginable situation following the kidnap of his parents as fuel.<\/p>\n<p><span>Diaz&#8217;s mother and father had been snatched off the streets by armed men on motorbikes in his native Colombia, with his mother quickly released in the hours after the kidnapping.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>His father, affectionately known as &#8216;Mane&#8217;, remains missing, although the terror group who snatched him have\u00a0pledged to &#8216;keep their word&#8217; and free him, provided they get &#8216;security guarantees&#8217; over their own safety upon his release.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It remains a fluid situation but one that is highly stressful for Diaz and his family, many of whom are back waiting nervously for his dad&#8217;s release in Colombia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If my father was in that situation, if I had that going on, I wouldn&#8217;t be at work,&#8217; Ladyman continued. &#8216;I wouldn&#8217;t be sitting here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think that&#8217;s extraordinary what Luis Diaz has done for his club on Sunday.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/16\/77450629-12716429-He_was_involved_in_Liverpool_s_matchday_squad_for_the_first_time-a-21_1699288243464.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He was involved in Liverpool&#8217;s matchday squad for the first time since his father&#8217;s kidnapping<\/p>\n<p>Co-host Chris Sutton could only echo the thoughts of Ladyman, before suggesting that football may hold a degree of &#8216;escapism&#8217; for the Reds attacker.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it shows his massive strength of character as much as anything,&#8217; Sutton said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He might actually see going out and training and playing as a bit of escapism to try and take his mind off. You know, it&#8217;s a very, very personal thing.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Diaz sent a message to his dad after scoring the equalising goal in the 1-1 draw at Luton, lifting his shirt to reveal\u00a0a t-shirt with the words &#8216;Libertad Para Papa&#8217; (&#8216;Freedom for Papa&#8217;).<\/p>\n<p>Despite FA\u00a0rules stating that players cannot lift shirts to reveal personal messages,\u00a0given the exceptional circumstances &#8211; and the fact the 26-year-old did not fully remove his shirt &#8211; Mail Sport understands bosses will not bring charges.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/16\/77463683-12716429-image-a-23_1699288283946.jpg\" height=\"358\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Co-host Chris Sutton (right) suggested that every player is different and playing on may actually provide Diaz with some &#8216;escapism&#8217; amid the stress of waiting for his father&#8217;s release<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12716429\/Luis-Diaz-Liverpool-playing-bravest-kidnapping.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luis Diaz playing this weekend is the &#8216;bravest thing&#8217; a footballer has done this season, Ian Ladyman tells Mail Sport&#8217;s It&#8217;s All Kicking Off podcast&#8230; with the Liverpool star&#8217;s father still missing after kidnapping in Colombia Luis Diaz returned to action with Liverpool this weekend and scored an equaliser\u00a0 His father remains in the hands&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luis Diaz playing is &amp;apos;bravest thing&amp;apos; a footballer has done this season - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/luis-diaz-playing-is-bravest-thing-a-footballer-has-done-this-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luis Diaz playing is &amp;apos;bravest thing&amp;apos; 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