Chelsea Offer Winger Compassionate Leave After Diogo Jota Death

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·4 luglio 2025

Chelsea Offer Winger Compassionate Leave After Diogo Jota Death

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has offered compassionate leave to winger Pedro Neto following the death of international teammate Diogo Jota.

Following news of Jota’s tragic passing on Thursday, Neto did not join the Chelsea squad for an early training session in the build-up to the Club World Cup quarter-final clash with Palmeiras on Friday evening.

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Neto was close with the Liverpool forward, having played with him at Wolverhampton Wanderers and for the Portugal national team, and Maresca will not pressure the winger into playing against Palmeiras if he does not feel able.

“I struggle to find words because it’s very difficult,” Maresca told his pre-match press conference. “You know, the feeling that you are, that you feel a little bit helpless in this kind of situation, and the only thing I can say is all my love to his family, the people that in this moment, it’s a big tragedy for them.

“And then in terms of Pedro, he’s very sad, probably more than sad, but we are also close to Pedro to support him in this moment.

Neto and Jota were close on and off the pitch. / IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

“It’s completely Pedro’s decision [whether he plays against Palmeiras]. I had a chat this morning with Pedro. We support him. Any decision he will take is the correct one, and we are going to support him in any case. So it doesn’t matter if we’ll be in the pitch or not. We’ll see how he is feeling. But in any case, we’re gonna support him.”

Left-back Marc Cucurella backed Neto to make an impact against Palmeiras if he does ultimately decide to play.

“The manager and he must decide but it’s important that Pedro feels good,” Cucurella said. “Football is secondary but it’s a long day tomorrow and whatever they decide will be good. But right now he’s a player in form and I think Pedro can help us in this game.

“In the morning he was sad and it was not his best moment. But we tried to stay together and in the afternoon he was a bit better and I told him that if he’s going to play then he will score because that is destiny. Hopefully we can show his love and all the good friends that we are and dedicate the goal to him.”