‘You have to speak up’ – Bacary Sagna urges Liverpool players to confront grief after Diogo Jota’s death | OneFootball

Former Arsenal and France full-back Bacary Sagna has urged Liverpool players to speak openly about the emotional impact of Diogo Jota’s death, saying it will be “impossible” for the squad to return to normality without acknowledging their grief. “They will constantly think about it,” Sagna said in an interview with CNN. “In the dressing room, at lunch, on the team bus – one space will always be missing. I clearly advise them to speak up. We are human beings first.”Sagna knows the toll such trauma can take. In 2008, early in his Arsenal career, he lost his own brother and found himself mentally spiralling. “My brain was not there,” he admitted. “I started making schoolboy mistakes – I couldn’t even control the ball properly.”Diego Jota tragically died in a car crash in Portugal on July 3, aged just 28. His younger brother, André Silva, also a professional footballer, was killed in the same accident. The Liverpool squad, including Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson, attended the funeral earlier this month before returning to pre-season training under new head coach Arne Slot.The former Auxerre defender, now 42, said he resisted counselling at first but was eventually helped by Arsenal’s in-house psychologist. “I felt light after this, and I was like, ‘Why didn’t I open up earlier?’”

He added: “We talked about life. The words were a release. I can remember the past and turn it into something positive – Liverpool’s players should maybe try and do the same.”GFFN | George Boxall