Liverpool -Baas Arne Slot said it was difficult for the team to go back to work after the death of Diogo Jota, so he had proposed his players that perhaps the best way was to follow the radiant example of their deceased teammate.
Liverpool started his friendly matches for the season with a competition in Preston on Sunday, 10 days after Jota and his brother Andre Silva died on July 3 in a car accident in Spain.
«What I told the players is very difficult to find the right words, because we constantly debate about what is appropriate,» Slot said in an emotional interview with Liverpool’s internal media.
“What is appropriate for our actions? Where is appropriate (for) what we have to say? Can we train again? Can we laugh again? Can we be angry if there is a wrong decision?
«And I said to them, maybe the best for us is to do this situation as Jota was,» he added. “And what I meant by that is that Jota was always herself, it didn’t matter if he was against me, with his teammates, against the staff, he was always himself.
«So let’s try to be ourselves too. So if we want to laugh, we laugh; if we want to cry, we will cry.»
Liverpool delayed the return of players to the training for the season, because most of them attended the funeral in Portugal last week.
The club announced on Friday that it would permanently retire Jota’s number 20.
Slot said that the 28-year-old, who played a key role in Liverpool who won the Premier League title last season, was a player on which he could always count at difficult moments.
«I always looked at him and said,» Now we need something special from you, «said Slot.» And he has delivered so often. I can think of all these moments.
«So we are in a very difficult time, so let’s try to do what Diogo did so often. If it is so difficult, try a little harder or just keep going and try to make it work.»
Slot, who said that the Jota team would always wear in their hearts, said it was a challenge to see something, including football, as «important when we think of what happened».
«But we are a football club and we have to train and we have to play again, if we want it or not.»
