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Selfless Liverpool star Luis Diaz has told his teammates 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.
Captain Virgil Van Dijk opened up about the shock that spread through the Liverpool camp after they learned forward Diaz’s mother and father had been snatched off the streets by armed men on motorbikes in his native Colombia.
Diaz’s mother was quickly released but his dad has been held for over a week by a guerrilla group, the national Liberation Army.
Van Dijk said: ‘When it happened, before the last [league] game against Nottingham Forest, it was a shock to everyone and we spoke about it but it should give us extra motivation.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has revealed how Luis Diaz didn’t want his team-mates to suffer with him after the kidnap of his parents in Colombia
Van Dijk said the ‘horrible’ situation involving the forward has motivated the rest of the squad after Diaz’s emotional celebrations while scoring for Liverpool against Luton
Diaz’s (left) father Luis Manuel (right) is still to be released by left-wing rebel group ELN – but his mother (centre) was quickly released
‘He doesn’t want us to suffer from what he is going through. He wants to take fuel from it and that’s what we all know.
‘That is what we spoke about last week as it was very fresh then. We kept it going all week and everyone is very happy for him [scoring against Luton]. It must have been [written] that he should score. But it’s still a horrible situation that is not resolved and hopefully we can get that going.’
Diaz returned to training last week ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Luton with manager Jurgen Klopp giving him space to decide if he wanted to be involved in the game.
Van Dijk said: ‘For him it’s so fresh knowing what is going on. He feels like being with us is his safe place as well and that helps him.
‘We are here for him and we said it last week it is an absolutely horrible situation and we hope there is a solution but we are here for him and everyone should support him and hopefully we can get it sorted as soon as possible. Hopefully we can get his father back as soon as possible.
‘You can’t imagine it. That is the scary part of it, the only thing we can do is hope that the authorities and the people there manage to find him safe and sound, get him back to his family and we pray for him as well.’
He said the club were ‘here for him’ and supporting him – adding he hoped the incident was resolved as soon as possible
