Category Sports News

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has said it is “going to be extremely difficult to accept” the death of fellow Reds player Diogo Jota.

Jota, aged 28, died in a car crash along with his brother Andre Silva, who was 25.

“I am truly lost for words,” said Salah, who joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017.

“Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Team-mates come and go but not like this.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won’t be there when we go back.

“My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children. Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten. “

The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport both men died at about 00:30 local time on Thursday.

Jota was on his way back to Liverpool for pre-season and, as doctors had advised him against flying because he had undergone minor surgery, he was making the trip by car and ferry.

Doctor Miguel Goncalves, who worked with Jota on his recovery, described him as an “unparalleled professional”.

He told Portuguese sports newspaper Record: “I started working with him last Saturday and I was with him every day until this Wednesday. I said goodbye to him at dinner time.

“He made an extraordinary recovery – he was undoubtedly an unparalleled professional. He strictly followed what I told him, as you could see in the way he was recovering.

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

Several Liverpool players were scheduled to return on Friday from their summer break for an initial round of physical tests at the club’s training ground.

That was postponed and there will now be a phased return for players on Monday.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s side are set to play their first pre-season match against Preston North End on Sunday, 13 July.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher also paid tribute to “one of my closest friends in football”.

“We bonded over all things, sports, watching any football match we could find – often your brother Andre’s game on your iPad,” said Kelleher.

“I was surprised a lad from Portugal loved sports such as darts, snooker and horse racing so much and some of my best memories were having a laugh watching them with you.

A vigil for Jota and Silva will be held at the Chapel of Resurrection in their hometown of Gondomar on Friday.

There will be a funeral service at 10:00 on Saturday at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar.

Portugal and Nottingham Forest midfielder Jota Silva laid a wreath outside the chapel, where a private wake for the brothers’ relatives took place on Friday afternoon.

Locals and fans have been paying tribute to Jota outside the football academy in Gondomar where he played from the age of nine to 17.

The academy is named after him and a picture shows Jota wearing both the colours of the Portugal national side and the yellow of his hometown club as a child.

People have also been paying their respects at Liverpool and former club Wolves, who he left in 2020 to join the Reds.

Everton players Beto and Youssef Chermiti, who are both Portuguese, and former Toffees midfielder Ian Snodin laid wreaths in Jota and Silva’s memory outside Anfield.

Craig Casey, Ireland’s captain, says the Irish will make Saturday’s debutants’ week “special.”

With 16 players serving as British and Irish Lions, Scrum-half Casey, 26, will lead Ireland in the summer’s Tests against Georgia and Portugal.

For the match at the Mikheil Meshki Stadium at 18:00 BST, interim Ireland head coach Paul O’Connell made Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien and Connacht second row Darragh Murray debuts.

Off the bench, Connacht scrum-half Ben Murphy and Munster’s Tom Ahern are also in line to make their senior international bows.

“It’s incredible for them to win their first caps, and it’s a huge opportunity for everyone of us.” In a pre-game media interview with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), Casey stated, “It’s a huge privilege for us to put on the Irish jersey at any time.”

“We must lay down a marker and make this week special for them,” he said.

Given the pedigree of the previous team leaders, the Munster number nine emphasized that it was “a special honor” to be skipped the team.

He said, “The players I’m following, it’s classy to be in that kind of recognition with those type of players.”

“I’m delighted with it,” she said. My family and everyone who put a lot of effort into me will remember it forever.

Georgia, who are ranked 11th in the world, is a formidable physical challenge for Casey.

We anticipate that they will play their game with physicality and physicality. A back row of people will contest every breakdown in their favor.

“I believe we’ll have a good day if we’re on our breakdown,” he said.

“They obviously have a strong back-line, but their forwards obviously set the tone for them.” They face a lot of serious danger.

Joe Rothwell says the chance to reunite with Russell Martin was a key factor in his decision to join Rangers.

The 30-year-old midfielder has signed a three-year deal at Ibrox after leaving Bournemouth.

He will link up once again with new Rangers manager Martin, who he played under as part of the Southampton side who achieved promotion to the English Premier League in 2024.

Rothwell achieved similar success while on loan at Leeds United last season, and he explained having turned down Rangers once to join Bournemouth in 2022, he was not going to pass up the opportunity again.

“Just before I signed for Bournemouth [from Blackburn Rovers], it was kind of a toss-up between the two,” Rothwell said.

Rothwell was aware of interest from Ibrox earlier in the summer, but says Martin’s man-management skills and tactical nous were what persuaded him to head north of the border.

“Yeah, obviously there was a little bit of interest there before the manager got the job, but as soon as I found out that he was getting it, he gave me a phone call and I was like, yeah, I’ll be straight there,” Rothwell added.

“He just sees the game how I would like to if I was a manager, how I would like to play the game.

“He’s a possession-based manager. From the outside, it looks like he’s just playing pointless passes. But when you’re actually inside it, you understand every pass that you make is key.

Rothwell spent his entire youth career at Manchester United, but left in 2016 after failing to break into the first team.

And he says that setback pushed him to return to a “huge club”.

“Leaving was never easy,” he said of his Old Trafford exit. “I was there for 15-odd years, so having to leave was tough, but I knew it was the right thing to do for my own career.

“A big drive for me was to get back there and obviously try and play for a massive club again. And I feel like this is a club that I can. They are a huge club. “

Rothwell also says the vision outlined by Martin and the club’s new American owners convinced him that Ibrox was the right option at this stage of his career.

“They spoke to me about where they see the club going and what they want to achieve and I wanted to be a part of that,” Rothwell said.

“There was interest from elsewhere, but as soon as I knew that Rangers had come calling, it was wanting to go back to that big-club mentality.

First Test: Argentina vs. England

Kick-off time: 20:40 BST; Saturday, 5 July; Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi, La Plata

George Ford claims that his first Test appearance is “the proudest memory of my career” as he approaches 100 appearances.

albeit brief one.

“I didn’t play very long on the field!” He claims that I managed to sneak on for a moment.

“I was attempting to be in the moment.

When you actually do it in front of 80 000 people and your family, it is a little surreal as a child because you dream of it.

Wales lost to Wales in the Six Nations in March 2014. Before the final whistle, Ford fed Billy Twelvetrees a short ball and kicked long up George North in his two encounters after replacing Owen Farrell.

However, Ford, 32, is still a Test operator despite Twelvetrees and North’s decision to pursue their careers in second-tier club rugby.

He claims that “the game has changed a lot in 11 years.”

Back then, there was much more space and time. Defenses increase the game’s speed, the physicality appears to have increased, and the game’s speed has increased.

Forwards are ending up like backs these days, and backs are ending up like backs.

If you are not quite on it, you are punished in Test rugby because every area is so contested, whether it’s the breakdown, the air, or the set-piece.

This Saturday won’t have any margin for error.

In their first of two fiendish summer tests, England will take on Argentina. The 32, 000-capacity Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium, home to Estudiantes, hosts the top-flight football team.

And the Pumas, who are currently fifth in the world and just finished defeating the British and Irish Lions, will be urged to win this series in a sweet, long-awaited manner.

Ford says it’s “incredibly exciting to enter a place like that.”

“Argentina are a really risky team,” he said. Some passionate, emotional players who base their game on being physically present are present.

They can make you pay if you are loose, striking quickly off turnover and transition, but they also have the skill and X-factor.

“They have definitely made progress in recent years. However, despite a few new faces and a few missing guys, we feel like we are doing well.

We have a plan in place, and we think we can help.

In the past, Ford has impressed against Argentina.

When England won both of their matches on a tour in 2017 again without their Lions players, he was a star performer.

When England won the 2019 Rugby World Cup against Argentina, he was the match’s man.

This summer would be a good time for similarly impressive displays.

Ford started for England at the start of the 2024 Six Nations, but Marcus Smith replaced him on a tour in New Zealand after an Achilles issue prevented him from playing until Fin Smith was chosen as the first choice in 2025.

Smiths and the Lions are currently away. Nine tenths of the law applies to possession. Opportunity appears to strike.

Ford, however, has since stopped noticing that way. Since 2014, he has been both popular and unpopular. He takes the long view after ten years.

One thing has remained constant throughout my international career: the debate, discussion, and noise about who plays England’s number 10,” Ford says.

It is present forever.

“Of course, we all make an effort to advance and improve, and I’ll make sure to put my hand up.” I’ll, of course.

The main point is that we are all trying to win, and I don’t think people understand that.

“It’s a mindset for me to be a member of an England team and squad.” Whatever my position will be at the time, I’ll use every opportunity to help the team triumph.

“We are here because of that.” When the team wins, you have those memories in mind. It’s not about how many minutes you play as a player for 10 minutes. How many games will you win with England?

“That’s my entire outlook on everything.

Ford is attempting to instill in his younger team-mates that they are level-headed and conceited.

England lacks experience without their Lions. Less than 15 caps are in the starting XV, which is nine. Guy Pepper will likely start off the bench as Seb Atkinson and Will Muir make their Test debuts.

Perhaps we experienced people can offer some guidance on how a test match can sometimes feel, Ford suggested.

The saying goes, “When you are under pressure, the pressure is on, and the opposition crowd is on their feet, and you can turn the game around.” That’s what your experience will give you.

You have experienced it enough times to ride those peaks and troughs over the course of 80 minutes, with the hope that you can stay in control of it enough to achieve the desired outcome.