Liverpool players should 'follow emotions' to cope with Jota death - Slot

Liverpool boss Arne Slot says his players should be themselves and follow their emotions as they come to terms with the death of team-mate Diogo Jota.

Portugal forward Jota and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash on 3 July in the Spanish province of Zamora.

The Reds play their first pre-season friendly since Jota's death at Preston North End at 15:00 BST on Sunday.

In his first interview since Jota's death, Slot told Liverpool TV: "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. But be yourself, don't think you have to be different than your emotions tell you.

"We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go."

The funeral of the brothers took place in their hometown of Gondomar last Saturday when a large Liverpool delegation, including Slot, were in attendance.

There have also been floral tributes at Anfield, where Jota's wife Rute Cardoso, members of the brothers' family and Liverpool's squad all visited on Friday to pay their respects.

Liverpool have retired Jota's number 20 shirt across their men's, women's and academy teams in "honour and memory" of the former Wolves forward.

A number of tributes have been planned for the Preston game, including a pre-match rendition of Liverpool's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone and a minute's silence, with both sets of players wearing black armbands.

"Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened," said Slot. "But we are a football club and we need to train and we need to play again, if we want it or not.

"What I've said to the players, I can say it here as well. 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."

Jota scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the FA Cup and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.

He played his final match for Portugal as they beat Spain in the final of the Nations League on 8 June. He scored 14 goals in 49 internationals.

The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport that Jota and his brother died after their car, a Lamborghini, left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle.

The brothers had been heading to the Spanish port of Santander so Jota could return to Liverpool for pre-season training.