Liverpool's Colombian midfielder Luis Diaz celebrates after scoring the equalising goal during the English Premier League match against Luton Town. Photo: AFP
Liverpool's Colombian forward Luis Diaz came off the bench on Monday to score an emotional late equaliser in a 1-1 Premier League draw at struggling Luton Town, dedicating the goal to his kidnapped father.
The 26-year-old dropped out of Liverpool's game last weekend after his parents were seized by armed men in Colombia, but he asked to be back in the squad and manager Juergen Klopp sent him on for the final minutes with the visitors a goal down.
As Liverpool poured forward, Diaz leapt to meet a Harvey Elliott cross in the fifth minute of time added on, before revealing an undershirt that read "Freedom For Dad".
A Colombian guerrilla movement has said they will release his father, after earlier freeing his mother.
"A wonderful moment but it doesn't change the situation. Most important thing is that his father gets released," said Klopp.
"It is wonderful he wanted to be here. For us a super important goal and for him very important and emotional, but that's it."
On the back foot for most of the game, promoted Luton had taken a shock lead when Ross Barkley drove forward in the 80th minute to release Issa Kabore who passed for Tahith Chong to slide the ball past Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
Dreamland
That triggered delirium in the quaint and raucous Kenilworth Road stadium, whose capacity is just over 11,000, and had fans dreaming of a first league home win of the season and a first victory over the Reds since February 1991.
"When you score that late, you are already thinking of winning the game," said Chong. "But you know they have quality and will keep coming and unfortunately we conceded in the last minute. I am very proud of the team and proud to score."
Liverpool dominated possession and could have won had it not been for a string of missed chances by Darwin Nunez.
The Uruguayan saw a powerful shot strike the bar, had another sting the gloves of Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, and remarkably skied one close-range chance over - though an offside flag partially spared his blushes.
That left strike partner Diaz to grab emotional headlines with his last-ditch goal which appeared to go in off his shoulder.
"It says a lot about his character, about his inner strength," said team mate Alisson.
"Not a lot of people can imagine what he is going through GǪ Football can bring joy in dark moments."
The result left Liverpool third on 24 points, three behind leaders Manchester City. Luton inched out of the relegation area to go 17th on six points, two off the bottom.
It was only their second point at home so far in the season.
"We pushed a top, top team all the way and we can take a lot of confidence from that," said Luton manager Rob Edwards, eager to prove the pundits wrong and earn a second year of Premier League football for his side after a fairytale rise.
"We are going up against giants but we are enjoying it and we want to compete as well."
Forest beat Villa
Nottingham Forest snapped a six-match winless run to beat Aston Villa 2-0 in a Midlands derby, denying the visitors a top-four spot after Ola Aina and Orel Mangala scored goals from outside the box.
The defeat ended Villa's six-match unbeaten run and left Unai Emery's side in fifth place, five points behind leaders Manchester City, while Forest kept their first clean sheet at home this season to move up to 12th.
"It's a really good win. We came up against an in-form Aston Villa side with really good players," Forest boss Steve Cooper told Sky Sports.
"We were committed to the plan and we've scored two goals from where we could create chances... A lot of gratitude for the players to stick with the plan. We were worthy winners."
Forest had not won a game since early September and the hosts took the lead inside five minutes when Anthony Elanga sprinted down the left and Villa's high defensive line panicked.
Elanga cut it back for Harry Toffolo, who put the ball into midfield space left vacant by the retreating defence and the unmarked Aina pulled the trigger from range to fire a low strike that flew into the bottom corner.
It was Aina's first goal for the club and Villa's Emiliano Martinez, fresh off winning the Lev Yashin award for the best goalkeeper in the world at the Ballon d'Or gala, looked on incredulously as the City Ground erupted.
"My goal was one to remember. I'm happy to get off the mark and help the team. We can all be proud, we stuck to the game plan, we dug in and fought for each other," Aina told Sky Sports.
The goal woke Villa up and they quickly began to dominate possession as Forest stood firm at the back to deny the visitors time and again. Villa had six corners by the end of the first half but could not find a way through.
Just as in the first half, Forest struck early in the second when Martinez conceded another goal from outside the box with an uncharacteristic error.
Mangala struck a ferocious shot that Martinez attempted to save with one hand, but the Argentine could only watch as the ball went up in the air and bounced inside the line as he failed to keep it out.
The visitors desperately tried to claw their way back into the game but Forest held on for the clean sheet and their first home win over Villa in the Premier League.
- Reuters