Preston North End 1-3 Liverpool: Reds win as tributes continue for recently departed forward Diogo Jota and brother Andre Silva
Liverpool returned to footballing action on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Preston North End in their first pre-season fixture, but the afternoon was defined less by footballing matters and more by tribute to departed forward Diogo Jota.
It was Liverpool’s first match since the tragic deaths of Jota and his brother Andre Silva in a car crash earlier this month. There was a sombre atmosphere at Deepdale as both clubs shared in collective mourning and made heartfelt gestures.
A minute’s silence preceded kick-off, while the 20th minute saw the entire stadium rise in applause as a photo of the brothers was shown on the big screen. A near ten-minute chant of Jota’s song “He’s a lad from Portugal” followed, sung by the travelling support.
Manager Arne Slot rotated his squad heavily as is customary in pre-season. Two different XIs were fielded in the two halves. New signing Giorgi Mamardashvili started in goal in the first half, while Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez were among those introduced after the break.
On the pitch, Liverpool showed some fluid attacking play despite the weight of the occasion. Conor Bradley opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark, tapping in at the back post after a sequence involving young winger Rio Ngumoha, Federico Chiesa and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Darwin Nunez came on as part of the second-half team and capitalised on a defensive error in the 53rd minute to double the lead. He rounded Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen and calmly finished before paying tribute to Jota with the late forward’s gaming celebration.
Preston halved the lead seven minutes from time through a powerful header from Liam Lindsay, but Cody Gakpo restored Liverpool’s two-goal cushion only five minutes later.
