Colombian authorities confirm Liverpool player’s parents have been kidnapped

After confirmation from the Colombian national police, gunmen on motorbikes kidnapped the parents of Liverpool forward Luis Diaz. 

Diaz’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, has been found and rescued; however, his father is still missing, and the Colombian army has been called in to help with the search. Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro posted on social media, confirming that Luis Diaz’s mother had been saved during a padlock operation in Barrancas. The hunt for his father is still ongoing.

“A specialist team of prosecutors, CTI (Technical Investigation Team) officials, and detectives from the police and military have been taking prompt action to locate these individuals, clear the sequence of events, and identify the criminals,” the Colombian attorney general’s office continued in a statement. “This was the first information the office received about the kidnapping of the parents of Colombian footballer Luis Diaz in the Barrancas area of La Guajira.”

While Liverpool’s game against Nottingham Forest on Sunday will commence as planned, the Reds have stated that helping Diaz is their top concern. Liverpool stated, “We hope that the problem is settled as soon as possible. Our main focus will be the player’s welfare in the meantime.”

“The Colombian Football Federation opposes the security situation that the parents of our player Luis Diaz are going through,” the FCF, the country’s football governing body, continued. “The FCF calls on the appropriate authorities to act as fast as possible to address the issue, and we express our sympathy with him and his entire family.”