Arne Slot praised Liverpool and Wolves fans for “showing the football world how to behave” as Diogo Jota’s two English clubs came together to pay tribute to the late striker at Anfield.
Jota’s two young sons, Dinis and Duarte, were mascots for the first game between the clubs since the Portugal international died in July. Liverpool supporters applauded when Wolves’ fans sang their song for Jota in the 18th minute and vice versa when Anfield acclaimed the late striker in the 20th minute, based on his squad numbers at the two clubs. The entire Wolves squad had visited the memorial to Jota outside Anfield to pay their respects the night before Liverpool’s 2-1 win.
“It was difficult but in a way also special and nice,” said Slot of the emotional atmosphere inside the stadium. “The football world again showed how to behave in moments like this. Our fans have been incredible since the tragedy happened. In every single moment they did what you hope they would do in memory of him.
“Today the away fans showed it is not only about our fans. In the 18th minute the Wolves fans started singing for Diogo and ours were clapping, and in the 20th minute it was the other way around. You guys know how special English fans are and today showed the outside world that it is not only the players who make this league special.”
Florian Wirtz scored his first goal for Liverpool since his potential £116m transfer from Bayer Leverkusen as Slot’s side extended their unbeaten run to seven games. “I am quite sure it was a relief for him,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I could see with his reaction when he scored the goal and it was the same with his teammates, they were really happy for him.
“In football, rightly so maybe, we mainly get judged on results and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists. We sometimes forget what else there is to do during a game. I think he has multiple good games for us but I also think he is getting better every game he plays. He is getting fitter and fitter and he was getting closer and closer to his first goal. It is not a surprise he scores today.
“He will be the first to understand that one goal is not enough. So hopefully he will score many more goals for us than just this one. But I also liked his performance during large parts of the game today, I think he was special in a lot of moments.”
