Liverpool resume training after Diogo Jota death, arrive to tributes

Liverpool players reported back for preseason training on Tuesday, five days after the death of forward Diogo Jota.

Jota and his brother André Silva were killed in a car crash in the early hours of Thursday. They were believed to be driving to a ferry in Spain to travel to the UK for the start of Liverpool’s preseason when their Lamborghini veered off the road and burst into flames.

Some Liverpool players were due to begin training for the new season last Friday, but the club postponed those plans after Jota’s passing. Arne Slot and many of the first-team squad were present at the brothers’ funeral in Gondomar, Portugal, on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Liverpool players returned to the AXA Training Centre and arrived to several floral tributes, many marked with the words from the club’s anthem: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’

The Premier League champions are scheduled to play their first friendly of the summer against Preston North End on July 13, though it is uncertain at this stage whether the game will take place.

Over the past few days, thousands of messages and floral tributes have been left outside Anfield as a mark of respect to Jota and his brother.

Tributes have also flooded in from Jota’s teammates, past and present.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said he was “absolutely devastated and in total disbelief” while star forward Mohamed Salah stated on Friday: “Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Teammates 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.”

Information from ESPN’s Beth Lindop was used in this report.