“I wish I had the right words, but I know I don't.”
That was something that Arne Slot said in his statement on the day of Diogo Jota's tragic death.
That is of course true. It is too devastating, too terrible and suddenly a loss for a few words of someone to make a lot of difference.
But in the following weeks he could certainly not have done to lead his club through the most challenging circumstances.
From the outside he always looks to have found those right words.
First of all, his direct thoughts have always been with Jota's wife RUTE and their three children. And the parents who lost two sons that day.
They were again in Slett's interview with us.
“(Diogo was) a good husband, an incredible father for his children,” Emphases Slot Sky Sports.
“Nothing can be compared to what RUTE, his children and his parents experience at the moment.
“The only thing I can say is the way the players behave during this difficult time, the way our fans have shown respect for Diogo and his brother, has been incredible.”
Slot only worked with Jota for a season, but can talk about him as a player and a person in a way that perfectly records why he was so loved and admired.
“He was always himself, so players liked him,” says Slot.
“When we won the competition against Tottenham, we were all together, I remember his young children there, and one of his sons kept going to the dance floor and every time Diogo came to him – who tells you about the father he was.”
After initially felt only sorrow and loss, Slot says that he can now feel some luck when he sees a Jota goal or thinks about the way he has lifted Liverpool's dressing room.
However, it is clear that going back to the seemingly unimportant, trivial, daily world of football and will remain incredibly difficult.
“The first time we arrive for a session, the first time we play a game, the first time after 20 minutes they sing his song – all these things are difficult,” he says.
“It was very difficult how we should act for all of us. I tried to say to the action of the players like the person who was Diogo”. He was always good with everyone.
“If you wanted to laugh, you could laugh, to cry, you could cry.
“He accepted everyone for the person he was. So let's be ourselves and not judge whatever we feel.
“When it was difficult, Diogo helped the club and I, but even before I arrived, so often in difficult moments.
“So we try to get the best out of ourselves, all become a little diogo in this difficult time and to do the way he always did.”
Moments of silence planned by Premier League
The silence of a moment will be observed at all top matches this weekend in memory of Jota and his brother Andre Silva, the Premier League has confirmed.
Liverpool has spoken of the competition about the most suitable way to remember the Portuguese star, who was killed in Spain on July 3 in a car accident next to his brother.
In addition to a period of silence prior to the kick -off in the matches, players from all clubs get black bracelets while messages and images are shared with clubs that they can use on large screens.
Huldesten were paid to the brothers prior to last Sunday's community shield between Liverpool and Crystal Palace in Wembley, with wreaths on the field and a period of silence before the kick -off.
Een minderheid van Eagles -fans brak de stilte, waardoor een sterke reactie aan de andere kant van het veld werd opgeroepen, evenals van andere supporters van Eagles die probeerden degenen die het eerbetoon niet respecteerden, te zwijgen, hoewel Slot achteraf zei: “Ik denk niet dat dit was gepland, of dat dit het idee was van de fan die het idee was van de fan die het idee was van de fan die het idee was van de wereld die het idee was van de wereld van de wereld Was from the world.
Liverpool has already retired the number 20 shirt in the memory of Jota.
The club has also said that a permanent memorial sculpture will become a future central point of memory in Anfield.