Liverpool have announced the tributes that will be paid to the late Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva during their first pre-season friendly against Preston North End on Sunday afternoon.
The club was plunged into mourning in the wake of their forward’s tragic death last week as he made the trip by road back to England to link up with his team-mates and begin preparations for the 2025-26 season.
The 28-year-old and his brother, 25, were killed in the early hours of last Thursday morning when a tyre on their car burst as they were overtaking on the A-52 motorway in Zamora, northern Spain.
A number of Liverpool players and members of the club’s hierarchy made the journey to Jota’s hometown of Gondomar in Portugal for his funeral on Saturday, with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Darwin Nunez among those representing the club alongside head coach Arne Slot.
Other team-mates, including Luis Diaz and Alisson Becker, travelled to the town for a Requiem Mass for Jota and Silva on Wednesday.
But after a delayed return to pre-season training in the wake of the tragedy, the Reds will now prepare to take to the pitch for the first time.
The friendly, which will be played at Deepdale rather than Anfield, will begin after a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, while representatives from Preston will lay a wreath in front of the away stand.
The fans and the players – who will play in black armbands – will then observe a minute’s silence in honour of Jota and Silva, while ‘digital tributes’ will play on screens around the pitch.
The hosts have also created a ‘commemorative edition of the matchday programme’ which is set to feature tributes to both of the men.
Fans will be able to watch the tributes and the match itself on ITV when play kicks off at 2.40pm.
Liverpool stars returned to training on Tuesday, with Mohamed Salah, Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, and Andy Robertson pictured arriving for the start of pre-season.
Robertson had penned his own emotional tribute to Jota last week on social media, where he labelled the Portuguese star as ‘a good guy. The best. So genuine. Just normal and real’.
The Scotland midfielder had attended Jota’s wedding less than two weeks before the tragic accident, with the forward marrying his childhood sweetheart and mother of his three young children Rute Cardosa.
‘For the team and the Club, we’ll try to cope with this together… however long that takes,’ he wrote on Instagram. ‘For me, I want to talk about my mate. My buddy. The bloke I loved and will miss like crazy. I could talk about him as a player for hours, but none of that feels like it matters right now.
‘It’s the man. The person. He was such a good guy. The best. So genuine. Just normal and real. Full of love for the people he cared about. Full of fun.
‘He was the most British foreign player I’ve ever met. We used to joke he was really Irish… I’d try to claim him as Scottish, obviously. I even called him Diogo MacJota.
‘We’d watch the darts together, enjoy the horse racing. Going to Cheltenham this season was a highlight – one of the best we had.
‘The last time I saw him was the happiest day of his life – his wedding day. I want to remember his never-ceasing smile from that magical day. How much he was bursting with love for his wife and family.
‘I can’t believe we’re saying goodbye. It’s too soon, and it hurts so much. But thank you for being in my life, mate – and for making it better. Love you, Diogo.’
While the club are preparing formal tributes for Sunday, hundreds of fans have been travelling to Anfield to lay flowers, scarves, and mementoes in honour of their late player.
Robertson and Slot visited the memorial on Tuesday, with the manager accompanied by his wife Mirjam.
Slot laid flowers at the site with a poignant message which read: ‘Diogo, we had the same dream and we fulfilled it together.
‘Andre and yourself will forever be in our hearts. Arne, Mirjam, Isa and Joep.’
In addition to the floral tribute laid by fans in the days following his death and the scores that signed books of remembrance since the unfortunate event, supporters have begun to sign a mural in memory of the striker a short distance from the ground.
Situated on Sybil Road, the mural, marked by the words ‘Forever 20’ on one side and ‘His name is Diogo – in reference to his song – on the other, has been populated by messages from from supporters still coming to terms with the seismic loss.
