It was an emotional day at Deepdale as Liverpool beat Preston North End 3-1 in their preseason opener. Both the Reds and their host paid tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, Softfootball reports.
The Portuguese siblings Jota and Silva passed away in car crash in Spanish province of Zamora in early hours of July 3, 2025.
Summer acquisitions Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and and Freddie Woodman make Liverpool debuts in the second half while new goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili made his first appearance in the first half alongside Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch.
Before the match started Reds boss, Arne Slot told Liverpool TV in his first interview since Jota’s passing that he told his player to be focused and not do anything out of the ordinary as they celebrate the life of a special member of the squad.
Arne Slot reflected on the emotional occasion, saying:
“If we want to laugh, we laugh; if we want to cry, we’re going to cry.
“If they want to train they can train, if they don’t want to train they can not train.
“We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go.
“It’s very difficult to find the right words because we constantly debate what is appropriate. What is appropriate in our actions? What is appropriate [for] what we have to say? Can we train again? Can we laugh again? Can we be angry if there’s a wrong decision?
“And I’ve said to them, 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 team-mates, to the staff, he was always himself. So let us try to be ourselves as well.”
Conor Bradley gave Liverpool a first half lead. Poor defending by Preston allowed Darwin Nunez snatch the ball from the feet of a defender before rounding off Daniel Iversen in goal and taps it into the back of the net for 2-0.
The Uruguayan followed the goal up with a pair of Diogo Jota-inspired celebrations. He performed a shark gesture, which Jota memorably delivered after scoring a cracking goal against Everton at Goodison Park, before sitting down and mimicking playing video games.
The celebrations are met with huge applause from the Liverpool supporters, who follow it up with a rendition of Jota’s song. Preston pulled a goal back and it’s a great header from Liam Lindsay, towering above his markers in the box to power a corner home for 2-1.
However, Dutch international Cody Gakpo had the final say on the preseason friendly as he scored Liverpool’s third goal from close range and also did the Diogo Jota’s shark celebration.
Softfootball reported earlier that Liverpool gave debuts to four new players. Arne Slot must have been proud of how the preseason opener went.
Liverpool won the Premier League last season to equal Manchester United’s record number of wins which currently stand at 20 titles and will be hoping to retain it next season and be the only team in first position for most PL trophies won.
