(Video) Liverpool friendly paused on 20th minute as Anfield pays tribute to Diogo Jota | OneFootball

Anfield is today hosting its first football since the tragic death of Diogo Jota 32 days ago, and everyone inside the stadium was understandably wanting to pay tribute to him during the match against Athletic Bilbao.

The venue became a shrine to our number 20 and his brother Andre Silva after they were killed in a car crash in northern Spain on 3 July, with thousands of flowers, shirts, banners, scarves and other items laid as tributes to the pair.

In the Reds’ first few pre-season matches since the tragedy, fans broke into applause in the 20th minute to remember the siblings, with floral tributes also being made prior to the games against Preston, AC Milan and Yokohama F. Marinos.

Anfield pauses to remember Diogo Jota

This evening’s double header at Anfield was always going to be an emotional occasion as Liverpool played at their home for the first time since Diogo Jota died.

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

As the first match against Athletic Bilbao reached the 20-minute mark, fans inside the stadium began to applaud in his memory – and they were joined by the players on the pitch and the coaching staff in the technical areas.

The game stopped for a minute to allow everyone at the ground to pay tribute to our forever number 20 before resuming, with the Reds 3-0 to the good by half-time after goals from Rio Ngumoha, Darwin Nunez and Ben Doak.

Diogo Jota’s memory will endure forever at Liverpool

Even though the attention of LFC supporters has switched back to footballing matters such as transfers and the upcoming start of the new season, the death of Diogo Jota is still painfully raw, and that’ll continue to be the case for some time.

While the players have now had a few matches to reacclimatise to the job at hand, we mustn’t forget how incredibly tough this past month has been for them as they try to work through the grief of losing not just a teammate, but also a close friend.

Diogo’s memory will endure forever at Anfield, and whatever Liverpool might go on to achieve in the 2025/26 campaign, it’ll be done with him on everyone’s mind.

You can view the Anfield tribute to Diogo Jota from the Athletic Bilbao game below, via @asim_lfc on X: