Salah fearful of Liverpool return after Jota tragedy

Perth Now

14 hours ago

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has admitted he is fearful of what awaits when he returns to the club in the wake of Diogo Jota's death.
The club, fans and football as a whole are in mourning after the 28-year-old Portugal forward and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a car crash in Spain in the early hours of Thursday.
Players were due back this weekend to begin the preliminaries of pre-season. However, the first tranche of the phased return scheduled for Friday has been postponed.
"I am truly lost for words. Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break," Salah wrote on social media.
"Team mates come and go but not like this. It's going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won't be there when we go back.
"My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children.
"Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten."
Former Liverpool captain and team-mate Jordan Henderson joined the thousands of mourners to have laid a tribute at the temporary shrine which has built up outside Anfield.
"Jots it was a pleasure to share a pitch with you but more importantly a friendship. All the laughs we had off the pitch and trying to find ways to wind milly (teammate James Milner) up and get him fined, which we never could," the England midfielder wrote on Instagram.
"Taking pictures of me asleep on the bus travelling then sending them to me later. You always wanted to have a laugh and were a pleasure to be around."
Mourners gathered at a wake in Portugal, ahead of the brothers' funeral at 10am local time on Saturday.
Portuguese prime minister Luis Montenegro, Porto president Andre Villas-Boas, Portuguese football federation president Pedro Proenca and Jota's longtime agent Jorge Mendes joined the brothers' family including Jota's wife Rute Cardoso, who had married the footballer just weeks earlier, at a private wake in the brothers' home town of Gondomar in northern Portugal.
"It is a moment of great pain for the family, who are left anchored to this tragic accident," Proenca said as he left the wake. "Diogo was an icon for the talent that Portuguese football represents and for its ability to generate unity around a person."
Liverpool, who are supporting Jota's family, have opened a book of condolence, both physical in the Anfield Road Stand and online, lowered flags to half-mast and closed all stores and the museum and suspended all tours until Monday.
Fans continue to leave flowers, scarves and shirts outside Anfield and there are similar scenes at Wolves' Molineux Stadium, where Jota spent three years before his move to Liverpool.
Jota was also remembered at Wimbledon as two Portuguese players wore a black ribbon on their all-white attire during their matches.
The All England Club has a strict dress code for players while on court but permission to wear the ribbon was granted.
Nuno Borges, who at No. 37 is Portugal's highest-ranked tennis player, attached a ribbon to his hat for his third-round match against Karen Khachanov on No.3 Court.
Francisco Cabral wore a black ribbon on his left sleeve during a doubles match.