LIVERPOOL paid an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva before today’s pre-season friendly at Preston.

The match was Liverpool’s first since the two men were killed in a car accident in Spain on July 3, and before kick-off there was a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Preston’s club song Can’t Help Falling In Love With You, performed by Claudio Rose Maguire, wife of former Preston player Sean.

As Maguire sang Liverpool’s anthem, Preston captain Ben Whiteman laid a wreath in front of the visiting fans, with the Bill Shankly Kop dominated by banners and scarves bearing Jota’s name. Liverpool supporters had sung the first of many renditions of his song 20 minutes before kick-off.

There had been questions over whether this game would go ahead as Liverpool players — several of whom attended the funeral of the two brothers in Portugal last Saturday — were given extra time before reporting for pre-season training, but it became an opportunity to honour their memories.

Liverpool have announced that Jota’s No 20 shirt will be retired at all levels within the club.

“We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go,” boss Arne Slot said on the club website. “To retire his shirt is the one thing we could, should and have done…

“I think what I take comfort in [is that] in the last month of his life he was a champion in everything. A champion for his family, which is the main and most important thing, because he got married.

“A champion for his country because he won the Nations League, [with] a country that he cared about so much, because he also wore the flag when we had celebrations. And of course a champion for us by winning the Premier League.”

Asked about the decision to play Sunday’s game, Slot said: “Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened. But we are a football club and we need to train and we need to play again, if we want it or not.

“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. 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.”

Mohamed Salah captained a young Liverpool side who comfortably beat Preston 3-1 with goals from Conor Bradley, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo.