Preston 1-3 Liverpool: Match Review

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Will Rooney reports from Deepdale on an emotional day that commemorated Diogo Jota and Andre Silva.

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00:00Full-time here outside of Deepdale and what's been a really emotional moving day because

00:08Liverpool played the first pre-season friendly of the 25-26 campaign. It should have been

00:14a day that Liverpool fans celebrated relish the title defence starters but instead it was

00:22a moving day because it was commemorating and remembering Diogo Jota, the Liverpool

00:28forwards who tragically died last week in a car accident with his brother Andre Silva in Spain.

00:37It's been a tough time for the club, for fans, supporters, the players, for head coach Arna Slott.

00:44Maybe a little bit of a surprise that the game went on today given how soon it came after

00:49Jota's sad passing. But Liverpool have decided to get on fair play to Preston because you couldn't have

00:59asked anything better from an away team than what they did for Liverpool fans and for the club.

01:06To commemorate Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, it was magnificent throughout.

01:10There were fans, plenty of banners and the 5,700 away fans who made the short trip here to

01:18Lancashire. Ben Whiteman, the Preston captain, laid down a reef in front of Liverpool. Supporters,

01:24there was a minute silence that was observed impeccably and Diogo Jota and his brother were

01:31commemorated on the big screen. It was a strange day, but as strange as it sounds, I couldn't

01:42think it would have gone any better because it was just, it really was touching what we're seeing

01:46at the end. Diogo Jota, I mean, his chant was sang throughout the afternoon, but after the game,

01:54I mean, it went on for at least five minutes, potentially even longer, and Arna Slott and his

02:01squad just stood and watched before Virgil van Dijk eventually said thank you and then the

02:07champ champion started and that was to signal that Liverpool still have a title to defend as well. I

02:13mean, football has stopped, rightly so, because a bigger thing than football has happened,

02:20a tragedy that shocked everyone, but Liverpool have got to start looking towards the season now

02:28and defending that Premier League title. It was a 3-1 win for Liverpool here against the

02:33Championship side Preston, dominated throughout. Not everyone involved, Van Dijk didn't play,

02:38Alison Becker didn't play. It was a little bit of a disappointment probably for some of the

02:42Florian Wirt wasn't involved. There were debuts for George O'Mahm and Jasvili, the goalkeeper,

02:49who's arrived from Valencia, who was signed last summer, stayed at Valencia for the season.

02:54Also, Milos Kerkhez and Jeremy Frimpong. Liverpool dominated the first half, took the leads in the

02:5935th minute through Connor Bradley, a well-work goal from Liverpool. Rio and Jamoa, the young 16-year-old

03:06winger, really exciting, did well on the left. Chiesa put it into the box, Federico Chiesa,

03:13Dom Suboz like helped it out and there was Connor Bradley at the back post,

03:17that pulled up with the lead after the break through Darwin Nunes. He was gifted the goal,

03:23to be honest, a real poor back pass from Preston defender Jordan Store. He set Nunes on his way,

03:29kept his composure to finish and he paid tribute to Jota by doing Jota's game celebration and then

03:36the game maybe fizzled out a little bit. Preston got back into it ahead of through Liam Lindsay,

03:40but Liverpool made no mistake. Two minutes from the end, Cody Gakbo, who was excellent in the second

03:45half, had a composed finish and he also paid tribute for Jota, sigling number 20, Jota's shirt number

03:53that's been retired by the club. As I say, it was a training exercise, if anything,

03:59Liverpool brushing out the cobwebs, 22 players involved, there'll be more players involved.

04:05They feel a lot of weak now and then neatly heads off to Asia for the pre-season tour,

04:09where they'll step up their efforts. That's what Arnott Slot will be looking for now and the message

04:14will be after this, we'll be doing it for Diogo. It's been moved and it will continue that way.

04:20The first game against Bournemouth, the Premier League season, there'll be more tribute without a doubt.

04:25It was a really, really classy touch from everyone involved today. To Peter,

04:33which is the older Josh and his brother, and then the Salah Curler had a 3-1 win here at Preston,

04:39as a goal kick-started their pre-season campaign.

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