Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp has opened up on the tragic loss of Diogo Jota — and said it felt like losing a family member.
Reds striker Jota was killed in an accident alongside his brother Andre Silva in early July and Klopp said he sat in silence for a long time after finding out the devastating news about the man he signed from Wolves.
Speaking to the Diary of a CEO podcast, the now head of football operations at Red Bull said: ‘I cannot imagine the dressing room right now without him being there. That’s for the boys as well.
‘Nobody at Liverpool will ever use it as an excuse…. He was so close with James Milner, very close with Kostas Tsimiskas, that’s moon and mars. Dealing with it on a personal level… Impossible.
‘I got a message in the morning that it was bad news, from a friend from Liverpool and I couldn’t believe it. It was not possible. I heard it, know what it means.
‘I saw all the pictures from the wedding and the boys were there… I know exactly where I was and how long I sat there without speaking a word.
Jurgen Klopp has described the tragic passing of Diogo Jota as like losing a ‘family member’
Klopp opened up on Jota’s passing on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast
‘It’s exactly like a family member. It’s an example of the things you have to deal with without knowing at all. You cannot be prepared… you have to sort things you hadn’t expected.
‘I was impressed with his presence, a very special young man.’
Klopp and Jota enjoyed a great relationship after he made the move from the Midlands in 2020 for £41million, with the Portugal international signing a new five-year deal not long after making an instant impact at the club.
He scored 65 goals in 182 games for the Reds before his passing with his best days coming under Klopp, winning the FA Cup and Carabao Cup together and getting to the 2022 Champions League final.
The German left the club in 2024, replaced by Arne Slot, but he retained a close bond with many at the club including Jota.
Meanwhile, Klopp is enjoying life at Red Bull and confirmed his desire to never coach another team — but did not rule out returning to the dugout in several years after this chapter is over.
‘I said I would never coach another team, a different team in England,’ he said. ‘So that means if, then it’s Liverpool, yeah. Theoretically it’s possible.
‘I don’t even know exactly. I love what I do right now. I don’t miss coaching. I do coach, just different – not players – and I don’t miss it.
The German brought Jota to Anfield from Wolves in September 2020
‘I don’t miss standing in the rain for two-and-a-half or three hours and I don’t miss going to press conference three times a week, having 12 interviews a week. I don’t miss that. I don’t.
‘I don’t miss being in the dressing room in a sense that I didn’t have it often. I coach one thousand and eighty-something games, so I was in a dressing room very often and I don’t want to die in the dressing room just because it’s nice. It smells!
‘I’m 58. That’s, from your perspective, old, but from the other side it’s not. That means I could make the decision in a few years.
‘I don’t know. Do I have to make a decision today? I will not coach again, but thank God I don’t have to do that. I can just see what the future brings. But now I’m involved in a project I really love and I love the people I’m working with and the clubs we are responsible for and the countries the clubs are in.’
