'Diogo was a truly amazing player and an even better guy'

Milner, a Reds player from 2015 to 2023, shared a dressing room with Jota at the club for three of his eight years here, building a fond friendship with the Portuguese and lifting the FA Cup and League Cup together.

Reflecting on the sudden loss of Jota, who died in a road traffic accident alongside his brother Andre Silva earlier this month, Milner described his admiration for the player and the person he knew.

“The emotions you feel are pretty obvious. The shock at first of hearing it and hoping it’s not actually true,” said Milner, who is now at Brighton & Hove Albion.

“Your mind goes through the experiences you shared together, the times you shared together. As a player, he was incredible. A finisher; so clever. The positions he got into, how he used his body.

“I sit next to Adam Webster on the bus when we travel to games and the amount of times I said to him, ‘You don’t realise how good this guy is, this guy is amazing, I love watching him.’ And Webby was like, ‘Yeah, Millie, you told me last week!’

“Every week I loved watching the guy as a player and training with him.

“As a guy, more important than as a player obviously, incredible guy. Someone you could put in any corner of the dressing room, people loved him.

“Me and him had so many fun days together winding each other up. He was such a stubborn guy, like myself! We had so much fun together.

“Amazing family man and just someone you wanted to be around. He’ll be missed by everyone. He was a truly amazing player, an even better guy – an unbelievable guy to be around.”