Diogo José Teixeira da Silva
Rest in peace, Diogo and André.
The idea is not to live forever, but to contribute to something that will.
First and foremost, Joaquim Silva and Isabel Silva must grieve the loss of their two sons, Diogo and André. Diogo’s childhood sweetheart turned newly wed wife Rute, alongside three terribly young children, are left to pick up the pieces of the life they built together. His loved ones will be mourning Diogo Jota the father, the brother, the teammate, the friend, rather than Liverpool’s number 20. Always.
But, we only know Diogo Jota the footballer. That said, there’s been nothing but glowing reviews of his character in each and every tribute.
Alexander-Arnold spots the space and threads a gorgeous, perfectly weighted ball down the right channel. Jota’s already on the move, darting between defenders and shrugs off José Palomino. As goalkeeer Sportiello charges out, Jota stays calm - delicately floating the ball into far corner.
Seventeen minutes later, Gomez spots the diagonal and lumps it in behind from deep, cutting straight through a terribly high line. Jota cushions it down beautifully on his chest, then glides inside Hateboer with a slick touch. The angle’s tight, but without a second-thought he lashes a vicious right-footed strike toward the near post. Sportiello’s caught cold and ball rifles into the back of the net before he even moves.
Nine minutes into the second half. Mané, drives forward in transition and slips a gorgeous pass in behind, with the outside of his boot. Liverpool’s number 20 times his run perfectly and bursts clear. Sportiello comes out, but Jota glides around him with a smooth, confident dummy. Another central defender slides effortlessly helplessly past, before he rolls the ball into the empty net with his left foot. Cool as you like.
That? Atalanta 0-5 Liverpool, November 2020, in the Stad di Bergamo. The *real* arrival of Diogo Jota, bagging his first Liverpool hat-trick on the continental stage, marking four consecutive matches where he’d found the back of the net.
A fair few eyebrows had been raised at the £41m fee paid to bring Diogo across the M6 from Wolves, but the then-23-year-old looked every bit a Liverpool player already by that point, as he took his tally to seven goals in his first 10 games in Liverpool red.
Firmino still had a few more dazzling days left in his locker at that stage, but the Brazilian’s best days were certainly behind him. He’d been off colour at the beginning this season, scoring just once in 10 games, so Jota grabbing this opportunity in Bergamo, as he’d also done in his goalscoring cameos against West Ham. Arsenal and Sheffield United at the beginning of that season, was critically important.
Diogo Jota was stretchered off in stoppage time during Liverpool’s 1-0 home win over Manchester City, in October of 2022, but he would have been forgiven for completely gassing out twenty minutes prior. The Portuguese international didn’t let up from the moment that Anthony Taylor blew his first whistle.
Jurgen had predominantly favoured Diogo as a centre-forward, but it was back to his Wolves days for this one. Firmino through the middle, Jota left, Salah right.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched a wide-forward more willing to track back than Diogo, on that Sunday afternoon. He continually doubled up on Riyad Mahrez with Robertson and even tucked in on occasions to limit De Bruyne. All whilst aggressively charging at City’s initial build up from the back, repeatedly forcing Akanji into errors.
And that’s just his out-of-possession stuff. In it, Diogo drove forward with purpose, especially in transition, to bypass Pep and City’s midfield press. He didn’t score, or even set one up, this day but there’s a legitimate case that this is his most complete Liverpool display.
*If you forgot, Salah scored the second-half winner in this one, after skinning Cancelo on the half way line. Jota, characteristically, played key role in stretching City’s back line, creating space for Salah’s by dragging defenders out of position.*
This is Anfield’s review of Jota’s showing:
“9 - A willing runner, ridiculously hard-worker and constant outlet for the team from the left wing. Jota’s end product isn’t always tremendous in terms of open-play passes and this was costly a few times for potential chances, but a lot of the time they arose because of the Portuguese’s own industry anyway.
A header might have done better in the second half but he also made a number of runs which went unnoticed and unrewarded. Big defensive recovery runs and tackles. Real worry that he was stretchered off right at the end.”
Klopp, who had felt aggrieved by decisions from the officials all game, bounds along the touchline to confront fourth official John Brooks - pulling up midbellow before gingerly rubbing the back of his thigh while hobbling back to his technical area. He’s then then booked for his aggressive gesticulations by referee Paul Tierney.
Not that he cared, in the grand scheme of things. 99 seconds after Richarlison had dramatically equalised for Tottenham, Diogo Jota was sat on the turf at The Kop end mimicking playing with an Xbox controller.
Lucas Moura, under no pressure, had played a careless back-pass straight into the path of the Portugese. In a flash, Jota latches onto it with a sharp first touch, his second even better. Bearing down on goal with Fraser Forster rushing out, he keeps his composure, opened up his body, and slotted a low left-footed finish across him into the right hand corner.
The net ripples, and Anfield erupted. From heartache to ecstasy in 99 seconds. One of the best moments I’ve had in the ground. Thank you, Diogo.
At the point where Jordan Pickford picked the ball out of the back of net, every man and his dog knew that Liverpool were all but champions of the Premier League for the twentieth time. Diogo came alive, as per, in the box with those twinkle toes.
It was an enormous goal at the time. Well of course, it’s a second-half winner in the Merseyside Derby. But it’s even more sacred now seeing as it was Diogo’s final goal.
We were locked at a stalemate with Everton, Anfield was tense. Fears lingered that they’d nick one on the break and, in the process, steal a first win at the ground (in front of fans) for over 20 years. Then…
Luis Diaz pulls off a clever little back heel at the edge of the box, into the 5ft10 centre-forward. He darts into the space, twists past Tarkowski with a feint, and buries a low, clinical finish into the far corner past Pickford. The Kop explodes like never before.
He sprints away, arms wide, face lit up with fire and relief. His first goal in months, but it felt like more than that - a derby winner, a spark in the title race in the wake of the cup final defeat and PSG heartbreak. None of us could have even considered that it could have been his final goal.
25 days later, we were crowned as champions. 53 days from that sublime solo goal, the trophy was in his hands. He got to live it all. The lad from Gondomar, Portugal achieved his childhood dream.
Fly high, Diogo and André.