'Never thought I’d fear coming back': Liverpool star Mohamed Salah mourns Diogo Jota

Salah said that it would be difficult to accept that Diogo will not be there at Anfield when they return.

Anfield: Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah said that he never thought there would be a day he is frightened to return to the club after the pre-season formalities were postponed in the wake of Diogo Jota's death. In a heartfelt note, Salah said that it would be difficult to accept that Diogo will not be there at Anfield when they return. The club had announced that Diogo's number 20 jersey would be ‘immortalised’ in memory of the Portuguese forward who tragically passed away in a car accident in Spain on Thursday.

“I am truly lost for words. Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Team mates come and go but not like this. It’s going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won’t be there when we go back. My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children. Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten,” Salah stated.

Liverpool mourns for their clutch player

Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold led a solemn moment of silence at Real Madrid before training at the Club World Cup. “It’s so difficult to find the right words when your head and heart are struggling to accept that someone you care so much about has gone. Diogo, your family was your world. They were everything. For Rute, his children, and his parents, all of our hearts are broken. And for Andre as well. Brothers and best friends. When it’s less painful, I want to remember Diogo with a big smile. So many laughs and happy moments. He was such a great teammate and a true friend. Forever number 20. Rest in peace, Diogo,” he later said in a social media post.

Former Liverpool captain and team-mate Jordan Henderson laid a tribute at the temporary shrine which has built up outside Anfield in memory of Jota. “Jots it was a pleasure to share a pitch with you but more importantly a friendship. All the laughs we had off the pitch and trying to find ways to wind milly up and get him fined, which we never could,” he wrote on Instagram.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said everyone associated with the club owed it to Jota to “stand together and be there for one another”. “For us as a club, the sense of shock is absolute. Diogo was not just our player. He was a loved one to all of us. He was a team-mate, a colleague, a workmate and in all of those roles he was very special," he stated.