The Emotional Tribute to Diogo Jota Revealed a Deeper Truth: Grief, Not Tactics, Is the Reds’ Greatest Hurdle This Season

LIVERPOOL – November 21, 2025 – When Andy Robertson posted his 11-minute Instagram video on Tuesday night, the timing alone was startling. Just hours after Liverpool’s disjointed 2-2 draw at Newcastle – a match in which the team looked strangely flat despite taking an early lead – the club captain sat alone in his car outside St James’ Park and spoke with a rawness that stopped the football world scrolling.

“I still expect him to walk through the dressing-room door laughing,” Robertson said, voice cracking. “Every time I look at the No.20 peg, it’s like someone’s someone punched me in the stomach again.” The video, viewed 22 million times in 24 hours, wasn’t scripted PR. It was a man, one of the squad’s emotional leaders, finally admitting what many inside Melwood have whispered for months: Liverpool’s biggest obstacle this season isn’t pressing triggers or full-back rotations. It’s grief.

Diogo Jota’s death in a car crash alongside his brother André on July 3, 2025 – just days after his wedding – left a wound that no summer signing could heal. The Portuguese forward, 28 at the time, had become far more than a squad player. He was the dressing-room’s heartbeat: the relentless runner, the prankster who once filled Virgil van Dijk’s boots with shaving foam, the teammate who stayed behind after training to work with the kids from the LFC Foundation. His locker remains untouched. His No.20 shirt hangs in its place like a ghost.

Robertson’s tribute – filmed with red eyes and shaking hands – laid bare the daily reality. “We’re professional footballers, we’re supposed to park emotion and perform,” he said. “But how do you park something like this?”

The statistics are brutal. Since the tragedy, Liverpool have dropped 14 points from winning positions – more than any other “big six” side. The team that once pressed like a single organism now hesitates at crucial moments. Arne Slot’s high line works in theory, but the intensity isn’t there. Players admit privately that when the clock hits the 20-minute mark and Anfield rises for its traditional applause for Jota, some of them struggle to breathe, let alone sprint.

That applause, begun spontaneously by the Kop in the first home game after his death, has become a beautiful ritual. Yet it also serves as a painful reminder. Every week, at 20 minutes, the stadium falls silent for a heartbeat before erupting – and every week, the players feel it anew. “It’s lovely,” Robertson admitted, “but it hurts too. Sometimes I just want to play 90 minutes without remembering he’s not coming on.”

Former Liverpool psychologist Dr Lee Richardson, who worked with the club from 2018-2023, believes the tribute, while well-meaning, may be prolonging collective trauma. “Rituals are powerful,” he told the Liverpool Echo, “but when they trigger fresh grief every match, they can become counter-productive to performance.” He suggests a one-off, club-wide memorial event – perhaps retiring the No.20 permanently and commissioning a statue – would allow closure while preserving memory.

Club sources say discussions are already underway. A permanent sculpture outside the Kop, funded by shirt sales bearing “Diogo 20,” is near completion. The idea of retiring the number across all teams has near-unanimous dressing-room support.

Robertson ended his video with a plea: “We’ll keep fighting for him – but we need to find a way to fight with him, not without him.” Perhaps the kindest act fans could offer this extraordinary group of players is to let the 20-minute applause evolve into something permanent – and then let them play the remaining 70 minutes with lighter hearts.

Because the greatest tribute to Diogo Jota isn’t tears every Saturday.

It’s the roar of a team that has learned to carry his memory – and still run.