Liverpool Started Pre-season On Tuesday After Diogo Jota's Death

Arne Slot and his wife paid their final respects to Diego Jota at Anfield (doc Liverpool).

The sources summarized by ESPN said Liverpool players would report for pre-season training on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, local time following the death of striker Diogo Jota.

Jota, 28, and his brother Andre Silva, 25, died in a car accident in northwestern Spain last week.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot and a number of first-team players attended the funeral of the two brothers in Gondomar, Portugal, on Saturday, July 5, 2025, local time.

Several players were originally scheduled to report for Friday's pre-season test, July 4, 2025, but the plan was postponed due to Jota's death.

Now, they have just reported to the AXA Training Center on Tuesday as they begin preparing for the new season.

The 2024/2025 Premier League champions are scheduled to play a pre-season friendly against Championship team Preston North End, at Deepdale on Sunday, July 13, 2025, but it is not certain at this stage whether the match will continue.

Over the past few days, thousands of messages and wreaths have been left outside Anfield as a sign of respect for Jota and her brother.

In a statement, Liverpool described the death of the two brothers as an unimaginable loss.

Captain Virgil van Dijk said he was completely destroyed and did not believe it at all.

Meanwhile, on the same day as the schedule for reporting the squad, Reds officials Michael Edwards, Andy Robertson, and Arne Slot paid their final respects to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva at Anfield on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, afternoon local time.

They visited the stadium, where there were so many private condolences conveyed by supporters and the general public to Diogo and Andre.

Edwards, Robertson, and Arne Slot with his wife added a series of flowers to a series of flowers that graced the outer courtyard of the stadium Jota often visited after moving from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020.

"We had the same dream and we made it happen together," Arne Slot wrote in the series of flowers.

The number 20 used by Jota at Liverpool will be retired to be dedicated to the Portuguese player.

Liverpool confirmed that the number 20 jersey will be permanently retired, marking the first time in the club's history that a jersey number is no longer worn.

Other clubs have taken similar steps in the past, such as Manchester City, which retired the number 23 of Marc-Vivien Foe's jersey after the player's death.

Jota's 20 jersey number has become a symbol of more than just her identity. The number also coincides with the historic 20th Liverpool league title.