Liverpool’s comeback fell short in a 3-2 loss at Toulouse in the Europa League on Thursday but it was still a victorious day for striker Luis Diaz.
Diaz’s father was released hours before the match, 12 days after his kidnapping in northern Colombia by members of the guerrilla group National Liberation Army, or ELN.
Diaz had appealed for his father’s release after scoring Sunday in a Premier League match, revealing a T-shirt saying “Freedom for Papa” in Spanish.
On Thursday, Diaz didn’t score but still tested Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes with a low right-footed shot from outside the area in the first half.
Aron Donnum scored in the first half and Thijs Dallinga doubled the advantage just before the hour mark for the hosts, who lost 5-1 at Anfield two weeks ago.
An own goal from Cristian Casseres made it 2-1 in the 74th minute but Frank Magri quickly restored the two-goal lead.
Diogo Jota came on for Diaz in the 81st minute and scored eight minutes later. Liverpool thought it equalized in stoppage time but Jarell Quansah’s goal was disallowed by VAR.
The game was Jurgen Klopp’s 450th as manager for Liverpool.
Before it, Klopp told told TNT Sports the Colombia striker was “really happy” with the news that his father was freed.
After the game, he was not that happy with his team’s performance.
“It was well deserved to lose because they won pretty much all the decisive challenges, battles,” Klopp said. “We have too many situations where we should have won the ball but we didn’t.”
Liverpool leads Group E with nine points from four games. Toulouse trails by two in second.
Leverkusen remained the last team with a perfect record after four games with a 1-0 victory at Qarabag in Group H. The Bundesliga leader reached the round of 16 after Victor Boniface scored the winner from the penalty spot in stoppage time.
Brighton scored early in each half to beat Ajax in Amsterdam 2-0 for its second straight win after defeating the struggling Dutch powerhouse by the same score two weeks ago.
Forward Ansu Fati gave the Seagulls the lead against the run of play amid Ajax’s early dominance.
Simon Adingra doubled it on a counterattack to lift Brighton to second place in Group B with seven points. Marseille leads with eight after Chancel Mbemba and Ismaila Sarr scored in a 2-0 win at AEK Athens, which remains on four points in third.
Slavia beat Roma 2-0 in Prague, handing Jose Mourinho’s team its first defeat. Vaclav Jurecka and Lukas Masopust netted second-half goals for Slavia to tie Roma atop Group G with nine points each.
At London Stadium, Lucas Paqueta’s late volley secured a 1-0 for West Ham over Olympiacos to stay tied atop Group A with Freiburg, which routed Serbia’s TSC Backa Topola 5-0.
Borja Iglesias, Aitor Ruibal, Marc Roca and Abdessamad Ezzalzouli all scored for Real Betis in a 4-1 victory over Aris Limassol and keep the lead in Group C with nine points.
Danilo Pereira and Todd Cantwell scored within eight minutes in the first half to set Rangers on the way to a 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague. The Scots are second on seven.
In Group D, Berat Djimsiti’s goal helped Atalanta maintain the top place with 10 points after a 1-0 win over Sturm Graz. Sporting is three points back in second after a 2-1 win over Poland’s Rakow.
Europa Conference League
Viktoria Plzen made it four wins from four with a 1-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb to reach the round of 16 from the top spot in Group C. Last year’s runner-up Fiorentina beat Serbia’s Cukaricki 1-0 to take a lead in Group F with eight points, leading Ferencvarosi and Genk by two after the two drew 2-2 in Hungary. PAOK was held at home 2-2 by Aberdeen to still top the standings in Group G with 10 points, with another title favourite Eintracht Frankfurt one point back after a 1-0 win at HJK Helsinki. Diego Carlos and Ollie Watkins rallied Aston Villa past Alkmaar 2-1 to share the lead of Group E with Legia Warsaw.
Israeli teams
Two Israeli clubs returned to action in UEFA competitions after being unable to play two weeks ago because of the country’s war with Hamas. Villarreal rallied in the second half to defeat Maccabi Haifa 2-1 in a Europa League game played in Cyprus. Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine 3-1 in a Europa Conference League game staged in the Polish city of Lublin.