On Friday, Liverpool played their first Premier League game since the death of Diogo Jota, who tragically died in a car crash alongside his brother earlier this summer
Arne Slot has revealed that he would’ve turned to Diogo Jota to rescue Liverpool as they chased a late goal in their opening game of the new Premier League season against Bournemouth. Jota, 28, and his brother, Andre Silva, both died in a car crash in July.
The Liverpool forward had a knack for scoring late winners. His last goal for the club was such, as Jota netted at the famous Kop End to fire the Reds to a crucial 1-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton.
Despite leading 2-0 in the second half, Slot’s side found themselves drawing with just a few minutes to go in Friday’s curtain-raiser. Ultimately, Liverpool found an 88th-minute winner through Federico Chiesa before Mo Salah brilliantly made it 4-2 in stoppage time and sealed all three points for the reigning champions.
Post-match, however, Slot revealed that he ‘would have loved’ to have been able to bring Jota on. “Normally at 2-2 everyone knows which player I look to at that moment in time,” the Reds boss said.
“I would have loved to bring in Diogo Jota, but I could not for terrible reasons. But tonight the fans and the players did what he did for us many times in the past.”
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Slot added: Bournemouth faced a team that never gave up. We lost many players during the summer but we did not lose our mentality.”
Liverpool’s match-winner also gave a nod to Jota after the game. “[The goal] was a great moment for me but my thoughts go to Diogo,” Chiesa told BBC Sport.
“I think for what we have seen it was his day. The feeling that the fans gave me, chanting his song all the way through the match. It was very emotional, very emotional for me. I have to say that after the goal my thoughts went to his family, his brother Andre. That’s the only thing I could say.
“At the end of the day we have to focus on the football. We wanted to win today. It was a difficult match, we went 2-0 up and then they came back, but we showed why we are champions. Of course, Diogo would have helped us a lot but unfortunately he was somewhere else and he helped us in another way.”
Hugo Ekitike, who scored the Reds’ first goal and set up their second, signed for Liverpool after Jota’s death but felt the enormity of his passing. “We wanted to win for the people who came tonight and for Diogo and that’s what we did, so I’m happy for everybody,” Ekitike explained to Sky Sports.
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