Slot pays tribute to ‘champion’ Jota ahead of Preston friendly

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool manager Arne Slot paid tribute to Diogo Jota in an interview released on Sunday saying the Portugal forward was a “champion” in everything he did.

Father of three Jota, who married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso 11 days before the accident, died alongside his brother on July 3 after their Lamborghini came off the road and burst into flames in northern Spain.

“I think what I take comfort in is that in the last month of his life he was a champion in everything,” Slot told the Liverpool website ahead of Sunday’s friendly against Preston North End.

“A champion for his family, which is the main and most important thing, because he got married.

“A champion for his country because he won the Nations League with a country that he cared about so much, because he also wore the flag when we had celebrations.

“And of course a champion for us by winning the Premier League.”

Earlier this week Slot joined several players in attending the tributes that have appeared to Jota and his brother outside Anfield.

Liverpool announced this week that Jota’s number 20 shirt will be retired at all levels within the club.

“We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go,” said Slot.

“Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened. It’s very difficult to find the right words because we constantly debate what is appropriate.

“I’ve said to them (the players), 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 teammates, to the staff, he was always himself. So let us try to be ourselves as well.”

A number of tributes are planned for Sunday’s game at Preston which is Liverpool’s first pre-season friendly and their first match since the accident.

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 Liverpool’s Portuguese forward Diogo Jota, 28, died in a fiery car crash near Zamora in northwestern Spain with his brother.

Jota, who got married on June 28, helped Liverpool win the Premier League last season and also won the FA Cup and League Cup with the Merseyside outfit.

Jota arrived at Anfield from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020 and scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for the club in all competitions.

He also made 49 appearances for Portugal, twice winning the UEFA Nations League.

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‘We will all miss you’

Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo paid tribute to his international team-mate Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash on Thursday, saying “we will all miss you.”

The Liverpool and Portugal star, 28, died along with his younger brother Andre when their vehicle veered off a motorway and burst into flames shortly after midnight in the municipality of Cernadilla in Zamora province, Spain.