Liverpool have cancelled the phased return of players for pre-season training as they continue to mourn the death of forward Diogo Jota.
The first group of Arne Slot‘s squad were scheduled to attend the club’s AXA training complex on Friday for the opening round of physical tests after their summer break.
However, it is understood that has been postponed as the club deals with the aftermath of the shocking tragedy which saw 28-year-old Jota and his brother Andre Silva killed in a car crash in Spain in the early hours of Thursday.
Jota and his brother were on their way to catch a ferry back to England, after he was warned flying would be a risk to his health due to a recent surgery. A Brittany Ferries service from the port city of Santander to Plymouth left at 4pm on Thursday, arriving in Devon at 11.15am on Friday.
On Thursday, his physio, respiratory physiotherapist Miguel Goncalves, who had been working with Jota just five hours before the deadly crash, revealed the tragic footballer’s final hours.
Jota suffered a little-known issue called a pneumothorax – or collapsed lung – during the campaign. He had bravely played through his condition, risking making it worse by delaying surgery from May until after Portugal’s Nations League victory against Spain earlier this month.
Liverpool have cancelled the phased return of players for pre-season training as they continue to mourn the death of forward Diogo Jota
The acid green front of what appears to be the front of the Lamborghini Huracan lies at the side of the road where Diogo Jota and his brother died on Thursday. Their family and the world of football are mourning their tragic deaths near the town of Cernadilla, close to Zamora, Spain
Respiratory physiotherapist Miguel Goncalves had been working with Jota just five hours before the deadly crash
Goncalves, who works at Hospital Sao Joao, in Porto, said he had last seen Jota at dinner time, at around 8.30pm, and they were planning to drive at night because it was cooler. He strongly denied rumours that they had been partying, calling his patient an ‘unparalleled professional’.
In a tragic insight into the footballer’s final days the physio said he was ‘excited, confident in his recovery and enthusiastic’ for the upcoming season.
‘I said goodbye to him and his brother, Andre, at around 8:30pm. His brother was a great companion and decided to go with him, to accompany him on the trip, and that way they would also spend more time together,’ Goncalves told Portuguese outlet Record.
‘They were going to travel at night because it was cooler, but they weren’t going direct.
‘He told me that the journey would take about eight hours, but that they would stop at a hotel in the Burgos area to rest. Diogo was very aware of his professionalism. They were only supposed to arrive in Santander today, catch the boat and then go to England.
‘The family would arrive later by plane, organise their lives over the weekend and then, on Monday, they had a medical appointment scheduled in Liverpool to assess the situation.
‘I’ve read some things on the internet that are regrettable, and I’ve even heard some in the media. To be clear, Diogo and Andre weren’t partying at all, they weren’t in the so-called “good mood” life, they had nothing that deserved any repair. Nothing.’
The tyre of the supercar is said to have blown out while overtaking another vehicle on the A-52 at Cernadilla near Zamora – just ten miles over the border from Portugal.
Diogo Jota’s brother Andre, 26, was also a footballer and died in the crash. They were on a road trip through Spain to catch a ferry to the UK when they crashed, according to reports in Portugal
On Thursday, hearses were spotted arriving at a funeral home in the Spanish town of Puebla de Sanabria, northwestern Spain
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Police are investigating the cause of the fatal crash in the early hours of Thursday morning. Just two weeks ago Diogo had married his girlfriend in a Catholic service packed with family and friends in his home city of Porto.
Wreckage at the scene suggested the brothers were driving to the UK in a Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder. It costs in the region of £180,000 before upgrades and has a top speed of in excess of 200mph. It can go from 0-60mph in 3.1 seconds.
Goncalves continued: ‘I started working with him last Saturday and I was with him every day until this Wednesday. I said goodbye to him at dinner time.
‘He made an extraordinary recovery, he was undoubtedly an unparalleled professional. He strictly followed what I told him, as you could see in the way he was recovering.
‘The base of his right lung had collapsed a little, but with the post-surgery physiotherapy he was practically flawless. When I left him yesterday he was no longer in pain and was going to return to Liverpool.
‘He was excited, confident in his recovery and enthusiastic about the next season. He told me that he would not go on the pre-season tour that Liverpool is going to Japan to strengthen his recovery, he believed he was going to have a great season.’
Mourners gathered at a wake in Portugal on Friday morning, ahead of the brothers’ funeral at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar in Sao Cosme on Saturday.