2026-05-25 09:30:24

Andy Robertson has admitted “football didn’t matter” to the Liverpool squad for a long time after Diogo Jota’s death.

The 32-year-old left back and his teammates were left devastated when the forward passed away in a car accident last July and he admitted the tragedy left them all struggling with getting back to work, leading to an “inconsistent” season.

Andy, who is leaving Liverpool, reflected to The Guardian: “This year hasn’t worked out for a variety of reasons. We can’t hide away from it, and it is not an excuse, but what we went through in the summer no team will ever go through. No member of staff will go through.

“I hope they never go through it because the devastation we went through … football didn’t matter.

“We didn’t care about football for weeks. None of us wanted to train. You were getting treatment off physios and physios didn’t want to treat you. That is the reality of it.

“As footballers we of course have a duty, we have to move on and we managed that.

“We started the season fairly well although it was still an emotional time for us. The [season-opening] Bournemouth game was ridiculously emotional with all of Jots’ family being there. I think after the 20th minute you saw a real dip in performance because of the emotional impact that it had on all of us.

“But then the season has been inconsistent.”

The Scotland captain doesn’t feel people have been fair to the squad’s newcomers and urged fans to give them time.

He said: “We bought players that we all got excited about, and they will all have an unbelievable career at Liverpool. I have no doubt about that. But they are also young. The one thing I get annoyed about in football is that footballers do not control their price tag. The market controls it. These players will be successful for Liverpool but they probably need a bit of time.

“Then some players who have played at a ridiculously high level haven’t played to that level. If you add all that in then we have had an inconsistent season and that is the huge frustration for us. We have been too easy to play against.

“There is no hiding away from that but I believe they have more than enough in that changing room to be successful for Liverpool again.”

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