For seven minutes after the final whistle, Liverpool players and staff stood in front of their supporters at Preston as they chanted Diogo Jota's name.

Sunday's pre-season friendly at Deepdale was originally envisaged as a day to kick-start preparations for Liverpool's Premier League title defence, but it played out as a memorial service for Jota and his brother Andre Silva, 10 days after they died in a car accident in Spain.

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On the pitch Liverpool eased to a 3-1 win through goals from Conor Bradley, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo but thoughts of Jota and Silva remained at the forefront throughout the day.

Liverpool remember Jota in emotional first friendly	Preston’s emotional tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva in opening Liverpool friendly	Liverpool pay emotional tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva ahead of pre-season friendly against Preston after their player's tragic death aged 28

When they rose to sing it again 20 minutes into the match, marking the squad number that Liverpool retired this week, supporters in all four stands at Deepdale rose to their feet to join the applause.

And when Nunez scored Liverpool's second early in the second half, he delivered two of Jota's celebrations - first the shark gesture Jota gave when he scored against Everton at Goodison Park, then another imitating playing video games.

Bradley opened the scoring in the 34th minute, prodding in at the back post after neat work from Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa, and half-time substitute Nunez pounced on a mistake from Jordan Storey to score the second eight minutes into the second half.

Eight minutes from time Preston substitute Liam Lindsay headed past his former team-mate Freddie Woodman, who joined Liverpool from North End at the start of the month, but it felt right for Liverpool to have the final say through Gakpo.


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