Mane Díaz, Liverpool's new celebrity: Lucho's father, a real rockstar

Mane Díaz walks through the streets of Liverpool and arouses celebrity admiration. “He is Lucho's father!” They tell him, and they approach him in a tumult. In the Anfield stands they recognize him, because he is already a well-known face, like his son Luis. They ask for photos, they call him a legend. When he walks through the halls of the stadium, he greets the stars friendly, hugs each other with Pep Guardiola or with Jürgen Klopp, as if he had known them all his life. Nobody despises him. Lucho's dad seems like everyone's dad. He is a character who came to England to shine, like his son.

Mane, at 55 years old, has become an endearing man, Liverpool's new idol. He is one of those oblivious fathers that everyone wants to hug. Perhaps it is because of his charisma, or perhaps because of his joy, or it must be because of that enthusiasm that radiates from his gaze, or his permanent smile, or his face of being a friend to everyone, of good people, of partying, or simply because he is the Luis's dad, whatever he is, Mane generates admiration.

It will be because he is brave, some will say, remembering the drama he experienced when he was kidnapped by the ELN guerrilla for 11 days, between October 29 and November 9, 2023. His captivity moved and his freedom was greatly celebrated, as all the freedoms, except that in this case he was the father of the best Colombian soccer player today, the player who dazzles in the Liverpool and the Colombian National Team.

Mane's life has changed abruptly. Before he was the 'king' of Barrancas, in La Guajira, where his house, his roots, are still located. There he was a normal guy, friendly, a good neighbor, known as the teacher for his soccer schools, party-goer, happy and loved for who he is: Lucho's father. His life, until before his captivity, was one of certain extravagance for being a man whose vallenato runs in his blood. Give Mane a guacharaca, an accordion, give him a microphone, send him to the center of the dance floor, applaud him, let Los Hermanos Zuleta or Silvestre Dangond – who is his great friend – play in the background, with a rum on the table, and the Mane will transform. His calm face will be a single smile. His tiny body will be a cult of dance: he will be the most authentic Mane.

After his release, Lucho took him to England, at the end of the year, so that he would be safer, more comfortable, closer to him. The change had to be abrupt. Going from shorts to a coat, to a wool hat that covers your gray hair, to gloves for the cold and a good jacket, in times of European winter. They have told him in that mocking tone of memes that he looks bored, that his Christmas was cold, that he misses his partying, and maybe they are right, but there is no doubt that Mane adapts. Now he has the luxury of watching his son play in every game, he celebrates his goals from the stands and the cameras follow him, let's see how he is going to celebrate. Because Mane's celebrations are as memorable as Luis' goals. He no longer reaches the limit of fainting, as he almost did in the goals that Díaz scored against Brazil in Barranquilla, after his release and which turned him into a Mane meme. He is more modest now, but he is still Mane.

If the fans besiege him in the stands, and the news agencies take photos of him as if he were a footballer, in the halls of Anfield Mane parades as part of the team, he greets the footballers, even his rivals. If it is a star that crosses his path, Mane will put on his fatherly face and will not be rude. Haaland, a Manchester City figure, ran into him after the recent duel between both teams. In the photo, widely spread on social networks, you can see Haaland posing for the camera and Mane looking at him with admiration, how tall he is, as if he does not believe what he is experiencing now.

He has also been photographed with Klopp, and the German appears very smiling hugging him. “With my friend Jurgen Klopp. Happily ever after” is the caption of the photo. Klopp was very attentive to Mane during his kidnapping and was support for Lucho. “I didn't feel good about us playing right now, but we had to do it,” he said then.

As if that were not enough, he was photographed with Pep Guardiola, after Liverpool's match against Manchester City. “A fraternal greeting, my people, with Guardiola, among the best coaches in the world,” Mane wrote, to the envy of any soccer fan. Pep does not deny him the greeting, they hug, they talk something and only they know what. A couple of photos testify to the meeting.

Mane's joy

Mane no longer dances vallenato in public, he will surely do it in private, the music not too loud so as not to bother the neighbors, but he appears on networks infected with other rhythms, such as the music of Dua Lipathe British star, as recorded in one of his most shared videos.

Dua Lipa sings and Mane dances in a gym, wearing Luis Díaz's red shirt. He has more viral videos. In one of the most recent, she dances the song El abduction, by Daniel Maestre and Mono Zabaletaand he does the choreography: “That they tied you up, that they bandaged you, that you didn't know where they took you…”, he sings, like someone who wants to make of his captivity a bad anecdote that did not take away his grace or his energy or his soul. .

Today he has to live in England, and he does it in a big way, they call him a 'rockstar', a Colombian Beatle, a Liverpool celebrity, but Mane anticipates that he will soon be back in his homeland, where they miss his presence. As he himself said in a message to those close to him: “At any moment we will meet again, so get ready for the party.”

PABLO ROMERO

Editor of EL TIEMPO

@PabloRomeroET

More sports news