Prior to the match, the Portuguese was honored by both teams and their supporters. Preston's team captain Ben Whiteman laid down a wreath in front of the visiting supporters, a minute of silence was held before kickoff, and despite Liverpool being the away team, the club's entrance song "You'll never walk alone" was played.
Liverpool's coach Arne Slot spoke to the club's TV channel before the match:
It's very difficult to find the right words because we're constantly discussing what's okay. What can we say? Can we train? Are we allowed to laugh?, said Slot and continued:
I've told the players that it's best for us to handle this situation like Jota did. And what I meant by that is that Jota was always himself, it didn't matter if he was talking to me, to his teammates, to the staff, he was always himself. So let's try to be ourselves too.
On Friday, the Merseyside team announced that they will retire the jersey number 20.
Liverpool won the match 3–1 after Cody Gakpo had sealed the final result and celebrated his goal with Diogo Jota's "shark goal celebration". The Dutchman stretched out his arms and clapped them together like a shark and then pointed up to the sky – as a tribute to the Portuguese.
