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Liverpool players and staff are facing an unimaginably tough week as they prepare to return to work.

Before Thursday, the champions coming back to start their pre-season schedule had excited many supporters, with plenty of new signings set to be on display.

But after the tragedy of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva passing away, the mood has shifted to one of despair.

Jota’s death has hit the whole football world like a wrecking ball.

The pain he and his brother’s loved ones must be feeling does not bear thinking about.

That devastation stretches to the Liverpool squad and the coaching team, who will be feeling wracked with shock and distress.

With the players due back at the Liverpool training ground on Tuesday, it reportedly remains in the balance whether they will play their first scheduled pre-season friendly against Preston North End next Sunday.

Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

After Jota’s death, it emerged that Liverpool cancelled plans for some players to come back on Friday, with Monday set to be the start of a ‘staggered’ return.

According to the Liverpool ECHO, however, the group are set to report for the first day of training on Tuesday.

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This had seemingly always been the plan, with Tuesday pencilled in from the end of last season as being when the full squad would come back.

What is less clear, is whether Liverpool will travel to Deepdale to face Preston next Sunday.

It is claimed that a decision over whether the match will go ahead has yet to be made.

READ MORE: Trent Alexander-Arnold makes Diogo Jota dedication after seeing former Liverpool teammate’s funeral from afar

Players and staff will reportedly be consulted on the matter before Liverpool make a final call.

In the meantime, Preston are said to be ‘following Liverpool’s lead’ over the match, with the Championship side reportedly ‘planning tributes in honour of Jota’ if it does go ahead.

While it has been hard to talk about football in the days following the deaths of Jota and his brother, the sad truth is that the show must go on at Liverpool.

DateOpponentVenue13/07/25Preston North EndDeepdale (England)26/07/25AC MilanKai Tak Stadium (Hong Kong)30/07/25Yokohama F.

MarinosNissan Stadium (Yokohama, Japan)04/08/25Athletic BilbaoAnfield10/08/25Crystal PalaceWembleyLiverpool’s pre-season schedule 2025

The relentlessness of the football calendar means that the Reds’ players and staff will barely have any time at all to grieve their friend and colleague.

With the first game of pre-season coming so soon following Jota’s passing, a decision is going to have to be made fairly quickly.

Only the players, as well as Arne Slot, will know what kind of mental shape they are in to play at Deepdale.

There will likely be some who want to play in memory of Jota, and others who do not feel ready to do so.

In our opinion, the choice must lie solely with the players themselves.