'Incredible footballer and really good person'

You spent a long time looking at the tributes, left from all around the world. This isn’t just a Liverpool community, it’s from every corner of the globe?

We consider ourselves a family at the club and it’s a global family, and you can see that here. I won’t list the number of countries there are cards from, and flowers and scarves and kits. I think it’s something that people feel a sense of wanting to be here and wanting to be a part of this collective feeling of grief, and also to be part of something that’s part of hopefully a healing process as we move forward.

I know that this has impacted people throughout the world of football. The emails of support that I’ve got from teams, organisations, honestly, you name it. Our competitors across the park at Everton have been so massively supportive as well. So, this clearly goes beyond just Liverpool. Certainly we thank everybody across the world of football and beyond sport that has reached out to offer their support and condolences, and we pass that on to the family as well.

How will you remember Diogo?

Obviously he was an incredible footballer and gave us incredible memories. One of the messages was how many times we said, ‘Just bring Jota on’ – I think we probably all said similar things over the years. Obviously football was a huge part of his life, it was how we got to know him. But he was beyond that obviously a son, a brother, a father, a husband. It sounds trite to say it but he was just a really good person; he was kind, he was thoughtful. He and I had a number of conversations about his e-sports that he was really involved in and we would chat about some of the things that were going on with his team.

When he talked to you, he would look you in the eye. When you spoke to him, he would listen. He was just a really good, good person. I think that’s why people loved him so much, and he returned that love. He played with a joy. He was obviously incredibly well loved by all of his teammates. We were incredibly welcomed in Gondomar when we were at the wake and the services. You could see his national teammates, Andre’s teammates, the wider friends and family, the impact they had – two special people that obviously are gone far too early.

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