Liverpool attacker Luis Diaz and his family endured a horrible two weeks towards the end of 2023 as his mother and father were kidnapped in his native Colombia.

Both parents have been returned safely to civilian life without any major injuries, albeit at different times. This will be of immense relief to Diaz and everyone in his life after some tireless campaigning in public and private to get his father freed.

In the meantime, he has still managed to continue playing and scoring for Liverpool, showing incredible mental strength at a time when nobody would have begrudged him stepping away from the action.

Here is the timeline of how the events unfolded, leading up to the release of Luis Manuel Diaz on Thursday afternoon.

Who kidnapped Luis Diaz's parents?

A long 12 days before his release, Luis Manuel Diaz and Cilenis Marulanda were kidnapped in Colombia by a left-wing guerrilla group called Ejercito de Liberation Nacional (ELN).

This group has been in conflict with the Colombian government but a six-month ceasefire was reached in August, with the country trying to move away from a military-focused approach to armed groups such as the ELN who have been a major player in the civil conflict that has killed more than 450,000 people over the last 60 years.

There are still other people being held by the ELN as they seek to gain negotiating power over the Colombian government. The head of ELN actually admitted that the kidnapping of Manuel Diaz was a 'mistake'.

Timeline of Luis Diaz's parents' kidnapping

28 October - Kidnapping takes place

On Saturday 28 October, Luis Manuel Diaz and Cilenis Marulanda were at a petrol station in their hometown of Barrancas in the north-east of Colombia. This is the town where Diaz was born and his parents have chosen to remain there.

They were reportedly taken by four armed men on motorcycles, though the details of exactly how the crime was carried out are blurry. Some say they stole the family's car, but others report motorcycles were taken from nearby civilians.

When this news came through, Liverpool and Diaz were preparing for the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest and, understandably, the Colombian withdrew from the squad to be with his family.

29 October - Diaz's mother is released