Arne Slot: Diogo Jota was a special person who never sought popularity but found it anyway

LIVERPOOL HEAD COACH Arne Slot says that no words can alleviate the “incredibly raw” pain after forward Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, were killed in a car crash in Spain in the early hours of Thursday morning.

In a statement released via Liverpool Football Club on Thursday evening, Slot said that he spoke not in the guise of a football coach but as “a father, a son, a brother and an uncle”. The Dutchman pledged Liverpool’s support to the brothers’ wider family “who have experienced such an unimaginable loss.”

Portuguese forward Jota, who contributed towards Liverpool’s 20th league title during Slot’s first season in charge on Merseyside, was described by his head coach as a “special” teammate and “a loved one to all of us” at the club.

“What to say? What can anyone say at a time like this when the shock and the pain is so incredibly raw?” Slot began. “I wish I had the words but I know I do not.

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“All I have are feelings that I know so many people will share about a person and a player we loved dearly and a family we care so much about.”

Commending Jota’s playing qualities as “the essence of what a Liverpool player should be”, Slot added that “there were also the parts that not everyone got to see. The person who never sought popularity but found it anyway. Not a friend to two people, a friend to everyone. Someone who made others feel good about themselves just by being with them. A person who cared deeply for his family.

“The last time we spoke, I congratulated Diogo on winning the Nations League and wished him luck for his forthcoming wedding,” Slot added. “In many ways, it was a dream summer for Diogo and his family, which makes it all the more heartbreaking that it should end like this.”

Slot recalled that when he first took charge at Anfield in the summer of 2024, one of the first supporter songs he came to learn was that which Liverpool fans had coined for Jota.

“I had not worked with him previously but I knew straight away that if the Liverpool supporters, who have seen so many great players over the years, had such a unique chant for Diogo, he must have special qualities,” Slot said.

“That we have lost those qualities in such terrible circumstances is something we have not yet come to terms with. For this reason, we need everyone at the club to stand together and to be there for one another. We owe this to Diogo, to Andre Silva, to their wider family and to ourselves.

“My condolences go to Diogo’s wife, Rute, their three beautiful children and to the parents of Diogo and Andre Silva.

“When the time is right, we will celebrate Diogo Jota, we will remember his goals and we will sing his song. For the time being, we will remember him as a unique human being and mourn his loss. He will never be forgotten.

“His name is Diogo.”