Classy tribute after Liverpool star Luis Diaz’s parents kidnapped as $76k reward offered

Liverpool’s Diogo Jota delivered a classy moment after scoring in the Reds’ 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest overnight, holding aloft the shirt of teammate Luis Diaz, whose parents were kidnapped in his home country of Colombia this weekend.

Colombia President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that the winger’s mother had been rescued but the search remained ongoing for his father, with a reward worth around $48,000 USD ($A76.4k) offered for information.

“Luis was with us in the hotel then he went home,” Jota told the BBC. “It’s a very hard situation and I don’t know how anyone would react if it happened to you.

“He was going to play. I played instead of him, and I showed him his shirt to show we’re with him and we hope everything works out.”

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More than 120 soldiers backed by police were combing northern Colombia Sunday for the father of Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, kidnapped with his wife who has since been rescued.

The army said in a statement it had set up roadblocks and deployed two motorised platoons, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and a plane with radar in the search for Luis Manuel Diaz.

Colombian authorities did not provide details about the kidnapping, but media reported that the footballer’s father and mother Cilenis Marulanda were taken Saturday by armed men on motorcycles at a gas station in their home town of Barrancas in the northern La Guajira department.

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