Liverpool make pre-season decision after Diogo Jota's tragic death as they postpone return

Liverpool have postponed the phased return of players for pre-season training as the club mourns the death of Diogo Jota.

In a club statement, Liverpool said they are "devastated" by the "unimaginable loss" of Jota, who tragically passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning following a road traffic accident near Zamora, northwestern Spain.

Jota was in a car with younger brother Andre Silva when it left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle. It then caught fire on the A-52 motorway in Cernadilla – just ten miles over the border from Portugal.

The 28-year-old was driving to Santander to catch a ferry back to the south of England ahead of the start of Liverpool's pre-season training on Monday, after being advised not to fly following lung surgery.

Miguel Goncalves, a respiratory physiotherapist, was treating Jota for a collapsed lung and said the player was on his way to making a full recovery.

"The base of his right lung had collapsed a little, but with the post-surgery physiotherapy he was practically flawless. When I left him yesterday he was no longer in pain and was going to return to Liverpool," Goncalves told Record.

"He was excited, confident about his recovery and enthusiastic about the next season."

Jota was due to return to Liverpool's training ground on Monday for pre-season. Image credit: Getty

Liverpool postpone pre-season return following Diogo Jota death

A report from the BBC has now confirmed that Liverpool players who were scheduled to come back from their summer break on Friday for an initial round of physical tests at the club's training ground will now do so on Monday as part of a phased return.

Arne Slot's side are scheduled to face Championship side Preston North End in their first pre-season game on the afternoon of Sunday 13 July.

The funeral of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva will take place on Saturday

The funeral of Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time in the Portuguese town of Gondomar. It will be held at the Matriz de Gondomar church, which is located 33 kilometres from Porto.

A wake will take place from 4 p.m. local time on Friday.

Jose Manuel Macedo, a local priest, confirmed that the wake will take place at Sao Cosme Chapel, which is 30 minutes away from Jota's hometown of Porto. As per the Daily Mail, the service will start at 3 p.m.

The following day, a 10 a.m funeral mass will take place at Igreja Matriz de Gondomar – a church not far from where Jota recently got married.

"The bodies of the brothers will arrive at the resurrection chapel for the wake which will take place tomorrow and then the funeral will be at 10am on Saturday," Macedo told CNN Portugal.

"We're available to celebrate [their life] with everyone and to share the pain and the Christian hope."