In a Liverpool dressing room still marked by a title-winning spring and a summer of unbearable loss, Andy Robertson has reflected on how the death of Diogo Jota changed the club’s relationship with football. The Scotland defender said grief drained the competitive urgency from a squad mourning not merely a colleague, but one of its closest friends.
Jota, 28, died alongside his brother André Silva in a road accident in northern Spain on 3 July 2025. The tragedy came less than a month after the Portugal forward had helped his country win the UEFA Nations League for a second time, and after he had played an important part in Liverpool’s 2024-25 Premier League triumph.
Robertson, who departed Liverpool for Tottenham on a free transfer in June after nine years and 378 appearances for the Merseyside club, spoke about the aftermath during The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. “It is hard to put into words or even discuss it,” he said. “What we went through was horrific.”
He recalled particular sympathy for players arriving during that period, joining a team whose emotional foundations had been shaken. “The new signings came into a broken-hearted club,” Robertson said. “I felt terrible for them. They had signed for a lot of money and it took them months to settle in.”
Grief beyond the pitch
For Robertson, the effect of Jota’s death extended far beyond results or training-ground routines. He said the squad’s usual desire to compete had been diminished by the loss. “Football did not matter to us any more, honestly,” he said. “We had just lost one of our best friends in the dressing room. Every footballer has that hunger, and when it goes, sometimes you cannot perform at your best. I think we lost that competitive edge last season.”
He stressed that Jota’s absence was felt personally by those who had shared a dressing room with him. “We were grieving,” Robertson said. “At the end of the day, he was our friend. To us, he was not only a footballer; he was a team-mate and a friend. It was unbelievably difficult.”
Liverpool nevertheless had fixtures to fulfil, and Robertson said the players tried to meet those professional demands while processing the death of someone close to them. “We still had to play football; there was no alternative,” he said. “We tried to do it as well as we could, and perhaps that is why last season was so difficult.”
The club finished fifth in the Premier League with 60 points, securing Champions League qualification only on the final day. It was the lowest points total recorded by a side ending fifth or higher since Tottenham also placed fifth with 60 points in 2006-07.
