LUTON, England (Reuters) – Liverpool striker Luis Diaz came off the bench on Sunday to head a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at lowly Luton Town and dedicate the goal to his father who was kidnapped in Colombia.
On the back foot for most of the game, Luton took 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.
That triggered delirium in the quaint and raucous Kenilworth Road stadium, whose capacity is just over 11,000 and where Luton had managed to register only one previous point this season.
But then up stepped second-half substitute Diaz to leap and convert a Harvey Elliott cross in time added on, revealing an undershirt that read “Freedom For Dad”. A Colombian guerrilla movement has said they will release his father.
Liverpool were left ruing Darwin Nunez’s misses. He saw a powerful shot strike the bar in the first half and another sting the gloves of Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski in the second period.
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.
(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Clare Fallon)
