How Liverpool Players Can Deal With Jota’s Death – Slot
Liverpool coach Arne Slot has urged the players to allow their emotions in mourning the death of teammate, Diogo Jota, who died last week.
Jota was on his way to England to start preparations for the new season when he was involved in a ghastly crash alongside his brother, Andre Silva last Thursday.
Liverpool players and staff paid their last respects to Jota, and Andre at a public wake in Portugal on Friday.
The club also announced that the number 20 jersey worn by the late Portuguese player will be retired across all levels at the club.
The team resumed pre-season training on Tuesday ahead of the 2025-26 Premier League season, and Slot has told the players to mourn in their own way.
He said: “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 cannot train. But be yourself, don’t think you have to be different from what your emotions tell you.
“We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go.”
A large contingent from Liverpool, which included Arne Slot attended the burial ceremony last Saturday in Portugal.
The Dutch manager urged the players to be themselves while mourning Jota as they begin preparations for next season.
He said: “Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened. But we are a football club, and we need to train and we need to play again, if we want it or not.
“What I’ve said to the players, I can say it here as well. It’s very difficult to find the right words because we constantly debate what is appropriate. What is appropriate in our actions? What is appropriate [for] what we have to say? Can we train again? Can we laugh again? Can we be angry if there’s a wrong decision?
“And I’ve said to them, maybe the best thing for us to do is handle this situation like Jota was. And what I meant with that is that Jota was always himself, it didn’t matter if he was talking to me, to his team-mates, to the staff, he was always himself. So let us try to be ourselves as well.”
Jota played his last football match for Portugal in the Nations League final against Spain on June 8.
He scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, leading them to win the FA Cup, and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.
The Reds won the Premier League title last season in Arne Slot’s first year in charge after replacing Jurgen Klopp.
How Liverpool Players Can Deal With Jota’s Death – Slot is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
