Andy Robertson has spoken about the death of Diogo Jota and the impact it had on Liverpool’s dressing room, in an interview with The Overlap.
“He was our mate. He wasn’t just a footballer to us,” Robertson said.
Jota died in a car crash near Zamora, Spain, on July 3, 2025, alongside his brother André Silva. The Portugal international was 28.
Robertson, who played alongside Jota at Liverpool for five years, described the difficulty of putting the experience into words.
“It’s difficult to describe or, like, talk about, really, because, like, what we went through is, like, it was horrendous, do you know what I mean?” he said.
The Scotland captain also reflected on the position Liverpool’s new arrivals found themselves in after joining the club in the aftermath of Jota’s death.
“If I’m talking about the new signings, the new signings, like, they’re coming into a club that is heartbroken, do you know what I mean?” he said.
Liverpool spent heavily in the summer of 2025, bringing in players including Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. Robertson said he felt sympathy for those players as they tried to settle into the squad.
“And they’re trying. And that’s when I felt so sorry for these guys because they had signed and they were signing for big money,” he said.
He added that the club’s focus shifted away from football entirely in the months that followed.
“If I’m talking about football, when it took them months to settle in, because we were like, we didn’t care about football. That was the truth of it,” Robertson said.
Robertson left Liverpool at the end of last season after nine years at Anfield, joining Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer in the summer of 2026.
During his time at the club, he made 378 appearances and won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, two League Cups and the FA Cup, among other honours.
Diogo Jota joined Liverpool from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020 and scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for the club, winning the Premier League title, two League Cups and the FA Cup during his five years on Merseyside.
“He was our mate. He wasn’t just a footballer to us.” 😞
Andy Robertson opens up about the tragic passing of Diogo Jota and the profound impact it had on everyone at Liverpool. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/KcCuSvAwLa
— The Overlap (@WeAreTheOverlap) September 22, 2026
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