Liverpool footballer Luis Diaz's father freed by Colombian guerrillas

The father of Liverpool football player Luis Diaz has been freed by Colombian guerillas nearly two weeks after being kidnapped.

The kidnapping of the football star’s father - also named Luis Diaz - had disrupted peace talks between Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government.

Local television channels showed Diaz's father at an airstrip in the city of Valledupar in Colombia's Cesar province after he descended from a helicopter.

The Colombian government said it celebrated the liberation, but that the kidnapping "should never have happened."

The player’s father and his mother Cilenis Marulanda were taken by armed men as they were driving in La Guajira province last month. Ms Marulanda was freed within hours.

The Premier League winger had pleaded with the kidnappers to release his father, saying he and his brothers were in a "desperate" situation.

Diaz played in Liverpool’s recent game against Luton despite the ordeal, claiming a stoppage-time equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw.

He lifted his shirt in celebration to reveal the message "libertad para papa" or "freedom for my father".

In a follow-up Instagram post, he had said: "Today the footballer is not speaking to you. Today Lucho Diaz, the son of Luis Manuel Diaz, is speaking to you.

"Mane, my dad, is a tireless worker, a pillar in the family and he has been kidnapped. I ask the ELN for the prompt release of my father, and I ask international organisations to work together for his freedom.

"Every second, every minute, our anguish grows. My mother, my brothers and I are desperate, distressed and without words to describe what we are feeling. This suffering will only end when we have him back home.