Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot has spoken about his former teammates Diogo Jota, the Liverpool and Portugal international who tragically lost his life in a car crash recently along his brother Andre.
According to reports, Jota was driving with his brother Andre, also a professional footballer, when it veered off the road near the town of Zamora, north-western Spain, and burst into flames early last month.
“It's tough to talk about it, but it was a tough week for me, for every teammate that played with him,” said Dalot during the club's ongoing US pre-season tour.
“I cannot imagine what the family went through. I had the opportunity to see them and it's just tough. I don't think there are any words to describe it when such a tragedy happens like that.
“It hits you. I felt that everybody, the whole world felt it, even if they didn't know him personally. It's just a tragedy. I think every time, at least me, I go on the pitch, I try to … Even today I saw shirts with his name and I think he will be remembered forever.
“I think he deserves it because he was a great man, a great teammate. Someone that I would say was a role model for me because I always like to see a player's behaviour when you play, when you don't play. He was always the guy that was thinking and putting the team first. So I will always remember him like that and hopefully he's at peace now and resting where he is.”
Dalot and his United colleagues Bruno Fernandes and coach Ruben Amorim went to Anfield to pay their respects.
“He could have played for any team,” said Dalot. “When you're talking about the personal side, I don't look to the shirts that he represents. Obviously I played a lot of years with him in the national team and I spent some time with him in there and I think you create connection, you create some memories and I think that's what I want to keep, the good memories. I think it's how I want to remember it.”
United are currently in the US as part of their pre-season preparations. There, they secured two wins against Premier League opponents West Ham and Bournemouth. Dalot said the mood is positive, which wasn’t the case on previous tours.
“I think straight away there is a connection between the players,” explained Dalot. “I think we are creating now a group that fights for each other. I think that's what we are trying to create. Obviously, there's still a long way to go.
"I'm not going to say perfect because it's difficult [to be perfect], but that's where we want to go, towards perfection. But obviously, I think you can see straight away some signs of the team fighting a bit more, having more intensity, and that's what we are trying to do”.
Asked about his manager Ruben Amorim, Dalot said: “I think he's good as a manager of trying to take the best out of you. He's very clear in his messages that you want to be a part of the team or you cannot be here. If you want to be in Manchester United, you need to match some standards. If you're not able to match it, it's not a place for you.
"The message is clear. The message was that if you started the pre-season, it's because he believes that we are the group that needs to come. Obviously, we had players coming in, which is always amazing. You can feel straight away that they match those standards. We are happy with how things are going, but we're not going to get carried away by the results of what we are doing. It just must give you motivation that when you do things right, you get the results”.
Amorim has been seen walking players through the set-up and patterns of play and positioning on the training pitch in the hope of giving them a clear idea of exactly what he wants.
“He makes sure that you go prepared for every game,” said Dalot. “We go to every game already knowing what's going to happen, more or less, with the opposition. Obviously it can happen that they might change something, but the basics of every team, we try to go to every game prepared. We always do the walk-throughs and some tactical work, of course. He's very keen on that so we can be prepared. But at the same time, the message is clear.
"There's not too much information, so everybody knows two or three things they need to do during the game. Once we get used to that, I think we will reach a point, hopefully, where we can almost play with our eyes closed. We already know where everybody is going to be on the pitch."
Another compatriot is Bruno Fernandes, who was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia but decided to stay at United.
“I think it's a clear message that he still believes that this club can go to the places that it should be,” opined Dalot. “I don't think there's a better way of starting a season than your captain staying and believing that this can go in the right direction. It's a clear message for the other teammates, for everybody, that we must believe. We must work hard to put Manchester back in the place that it deserves”.
