Trent Alexander-Arnold has paid a poignant tribute to the late Diogo Jota at Anfield on Monday night.
Four months ago today, the 28-year-old and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a car crash in northern Spain, with Liverpool’s stadium becoming a shrine to the siblings in the days after the tragedy as thousands of people paid their respects.
The Reds’ former vice-captain is back on Merseyside for Real Madrid’s Champions League fixture against LFC on Tuesday, and he penned a heartfelt message in tribute to a man alongside whom he played for five years.
Alexander-Arnold and Real Madrid pay their respects to Diogo Jota
As per liverpoolfc.com, Alexander-Arnold was joined by teammate Dean Huijsen, manager Xabi Alonso and Los Blancos’ Director of Institutional Relations Emilio Butragueno in laying floral memorials at the area of remembrance at Anfield in honour of Diogo and Andre.
The former Liverpool right-back wrote his own tribute to our forever number 20, which reads: ‘My mate Diogo, you are so missed but still so loved. Yours and Andre’s memory will always live on. I smile every time I think about you and will always remember the great times we shared.
‘Miss you mate, every day. Forever 20 YNWA. Love, Trent and family.’
Alexander-Arnold’s tribute will be greatly appreciated
Alexander-Arnold may have angered many Liverpool fans over the manner in which he left the club, and he could be subjected to an unpleasant reception at Anfield tomorrow night as he plays against the Reds for the first time.
However, everyone associated with LFC (including supporters) will greatly appreciate his heartfelt tribute to Diogo, and it must’ve been particularly hard for the 27-year-old to have missed the funeral in July due to Real Madrid’s concurrent involvement in the Club World Cup.
It mustn’t be forgotten that he too has been grieving the loss of a teammate and friend, and we just hope that he has the necessary support network around him in the Spanish capital to help him through the tragedy.
Everyone at Empire of the Kop would like to thank the Real Madrid delegation for taking the time to pay their respects to Diogo and Andre outside Anfield tonight, yet another reminder that while results on the pitch aren’t trivial, there are matters of far bigger importance in life than the outcome of a match.
Two ways of taking this ?
1. The insulting of the fans’ feelings by a traitor.
2. A genuine, heartfelt note to a sorely missed friend and colleague.
Why has such a note gone public ?
Trent has other ways to communicate to Liverpool fans.
I hope it is appreciated, as I’m sure Trent totally means it, but there’s a proportion of LFC fans who still have the hump with him and it could seen as insincere.
If I didn’t know better, one might suspect RM were using him to play LFC fans in a rather sinister and coercive way.
Woh ! Steady on, ian.
You’ll have Misty jumping your bandwagon with his new found evangelism and taking it somewhere dangerous.
Perhaps the play is taking us to believe that RM suspect Trent is a sleeper (why were they so keen that we bought Rodrigo in the summer for the same reason) ?
If so, it would make sense for RM to have Trent subjected to scorn from his LFC fans, so then they have his complete loyalty based upon a belligerence towards his home town fans.
Utterly hypothetical, but what a wicked web if true.
A paranoid and miserable player in their squad.
Bullies anyone ?
Maybe Trent needs to ask some questions and get some accountability in writing ?
Interesting theory.
It’s not unheard of in criminal gangs eg. Epstein’s racket, or certain religious cults to use such methods (making youngsters feel like failures, then playing them that they are their only friends) in order to groom kids away from their friends and families for profit.
If there is something worth looking into, no doubt the other top Spanish clubs and F.A. will do what needs to be done to expose it if it’s happening at Madrid.
One hopes such methods of ensuring loyalty hasn’t been employed at British clubs.
Players’ Unions should be aware and empowered.
Could such cast a suspicion over what happened to Beckham immediately after he left Utd to go to RM ?