Former Chelsea and Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho has paid tribute to Diogo Jota and believes his passing will only bring the Liverpool team closer together.
The Portuguese recalls a similar incident in 1994 when he was assistant manager to Bryan Robson at Porto and one of their players, Rui Filipe, was killed in a car accident, aged just 26.
‘When people leave this world, normally we all say “such a nice guy”. Diogo was really a nice guy,’ Mourinho told Sky Sports while at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
‘He had my agent (Jorge Mendes), so of course I knew a lot about him. And people in Liverpool know what I’m saying is true. He is a kid who nothing was easy for him, he had to fight to arrive where he arrived.
‘Three kids without a dad, a young woman without her husband, the parents lose both sons… it’s crazy. It’s difficult to understand. Maybe one day we will understand but not now.
‘It happened with me many, many years ago when I was working at Porto with Mr Robson. One of our boys, a loved boy, died in a car crash.
‘Instead of the boys suffering alone it was like the group suffered together and trying to fight for his memory. It was a boy Rui Filipe and we were champions, I think, for him.
‘In Liverpool they’re going to suffer together. The club is a fantastic club. I think they are deciding to take away the shirt number 20.
‘At Anfield he will always be part of the family and maybe they lose a player but maybe they win even more soul than what they have.’
