It has been a surreal few days in the football world as teams, players and fans come together to honour late Liverpool striker Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva.
Since Jota and Silva’s tragic deaths on Thursday, the Reds No. 20 and his family have been at the forefront of everybody’s minds.
Jota was laid to rest in his hometown of Gondomar, Portugal on Saturday, with most of the Liverpool squad and coaching team in attendance.
But while Liverpool and those closest to the Silva brothers mourn, football is still being played on the other side of the world.
FIFA’s inaugural Club World Cup has drawn plenty of criticism this summer. But on Saturday there were two beautiful moments, as PSG and Real Madrid superstars Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe paid tribute to Jota after scoring for their respective teams.
As a teammate of both Dembele and Mbappe at international level, Ibrahima Konate took to social media to thank them.
Diogo Jota clenches his fist in celebration as he holds the FA Cup in front of Liverpool supporters at Wembley Stadium.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Ibrahima Konate thanks Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele
As two of the best players in the world, Dembele and Mbappe have massive profiles within the sport. Dembele could win this year’s Ballon d’Or, while Mbappe is a whole brand unto himself.
Consequently, their tributes to Jota will reach further than others. First of all, Dembele sat and mimicked Jota’s PlayStation controller celebration after scoring the second in a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich.
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“Ousmane Dembele,” Konate simply posted on X, along with three heart emojis and a hashtag of the number 20. The Liverpool defender also took to his Instagram stories to share a screenshot of Dembele’s celebration, posting ‘Mon frere.’ My brother.
Later, Mbappe gave his own tribute. After scoring a spectacular scissor kick against Borussia Dortmund, the Madrid superstar held two fingers up to the camera on one hand and made a zero with his thumb and forefinger on the other. Number 20.
READ MORE: Four brilliant quotes which show Diogo Jota was always born to be a Liverpool player
Mbappe then put his hands together in a praying motion and nodded his condolences towards the lens.
“Kylian Mbappe,” Konate posted, with five heart emojis and a dove alongside the number 20 hashtag. Another screenshotted post on his Instagram stories followed, as the defender thanked his French ‘brother.’
Liverpool players expected back for pre-season
It has been a nightmare few days for the likes of Konate and his Liverpool teammates. Seeing tributes paid by the likes of Dembele and Mbappe must simply add to the surreal feeling.
Nevertheless, the Reds themselves will be getting back to work very soon indeed.
After cancelling initial plans to bring players back in a staggered manner from Friday, Liverpool will begin pre-season on Monday.
Quite what that will look like is hard to fathom, with many players having only attended the funerals of Diogo and Andre on Saturday. They will surely not be in a state to give their all in training.
In the meantime, further tributes will continue to be paid to Jota, but that is unlikely to ease the tremendous pain his family, friends and teammates will continue to feel.