Premier League
Tributes To Jota And Silva At Liverpool Friendly
Liverpool players observe a minute’s silence for Diogo Jota and Andre Silva ahead of friendly match at Preston
Tributes have been paid to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at Liverpool’s first match since their death.
Portugal and Liverpool forward Jota and Silva, also a professional footballer, died in a car crash on 3 July in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Prior to the Reds’ first pre-season friendly at Preston North End, there were emotional renditions of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love and Liverpool club anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone.
During the latter, a visibly emotional Preston captain Ben Whiteman laid a wreath in front of the travelling Liverpool supporters.
The away end, filled with flags and scarves commemorating the former Porto and Wolves attacker, loudly sang Jota’s song as the players walked out before an impeccably observed minute’s silence.
At the start of the 20th minute, the crowd burst into another rendition of Jota’s song.
There was a muted celebration when Conor Bradley opened the scoring for Liverpool, with the full-back looking up to the heavens as he walked back to his position.
Striker Darwin Nunez scored the Reds’ second and paid his own tribute by doing two of Jota’s celebrations in front of the Liverpool fans.
Cody Gakpo followed suit after adding the third in a 3-1 win and then held his fingers up to signal the number 20, Jota’s squad number at Liverpool.
The match programme had a black and white picture of Jota holding the Premier League trophy and featured tributes to the Liverpool player and his brother.
Liverpool have retired Jota’s number 20 shirt across all areas of the club, making the announcement at 20:20 BST on Friday.
In his first interview since Jota’s death, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot told Liverpool TV: “If we want to laugh, we laugh; if we want to cry, we’re going to cry.
“If they want to train they can train, if they don’t want to train they can not train. But be yourself, don’t think you have to be different than your emotions tell you.
“We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go.”
Jota scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the FA Cup and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.
He played his final match for Portugal as they beat Spain in the final of the Nations League on 8 June. He scored 14 goals in 49 internationals.
The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport that Jota and his brother died after their car, a Lamborghini, left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle.
The brothers had been heading to the Spanish port of Santander so Jota could return to Liverpool for pre-season training.
Bbc.com
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