Diogo Jota: Liverpool's emotional Anfield tribute to late star and brother

The Australian

6 days ago

It marks the first match at Liverpool's home since the Portuguese forward tragically passed away in a car accident last month.
Liverpool legend Phil Thompson was joined by Bilbao's club president Jon Uriarte and they laid down a wreath of flowers each just before kick-off.
One wreath was for Jota and the other for his brother Andre Silva, who was in the car with him and also died at the scene.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Liverpool fans in attendance chanted Jota's song.
Pre-match proceedings were disrupted earlier in the day when the fire alarms went off, leading to Liverpool's famous ground being evacuated.
The alarms have been since proven to be false and first went off just over an hour before the game started.
A club statement read: 'Shortly before 3:50pm there was a false alarm in the Anfield Main Stand, leading to supporters in that area of the stadium to be temporarily evacuated.
'Fans are now being let back into the Main Stand and there is no expected delay to KO.
'Thank you for everyone's co-operation.' That led to everyone in the ground having to leave before coming back in to pay tribute to Jota.
The club also have a special programme dedicated to Jota, which includes various pictures of him on the cover, and a caption that reads: 'Forever our number 20'.
The Reds have also already announced that his number is being permanently retired by the club.
And at Anfield, it was a sight to behold as the stadium was covered in thousands of Jota flags and shirts.
In the programme, there is a special message from Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, which reads: 'He will always be with us.
'I always come back to the fact that we have to look after Diogo's family, his parents, and that's the main thing.
'You think about so many different things, and it's difficult to process. 'You can't imagine the pain, the feeling that they have. That's why we try to be there as much as we can, and for each other as well.' Ahead of the game, there were Jota scarves and flags everywhere, while several murals have popped up all over the city.
The football world is still reeling from the tragic death of Jota and his brother Silva on July 3 in Spain.
The duo were travelling to get the ferry to Merseyside when they were involved in the fatal car crash.
The forward's teammates have marked a lot of pre-season by re-creating a celebration dedicated to Jota's love of FIFA and online games.
In the match itself, the Reds went 2-0 up inside the opening five minutes thanks to goals from Darwin Nunez and Rio Ngumoha.
They are now 4-1 up with an own goal from Alex Padilla and Harvey Elliott adding gloss to the scoreline.
But the LaLiga side have pulled one back through Gorka Guruzeta. The two teams play each other in a second friendly at Anfield on Monday, which kicks off at 8pm.
The Reds kick-off their Premier League title defence next Friday in the opener, live on talkSPORT.They welcome Bournemouth to Anfield on what is sure to be another emotional night. Football
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