Liverpool take on Preston in their first pre-season game of the summer. Arne Slot’s Premier League champions travel to the Championship side as they return to action for the first time since the death of Diogo Jota. Tributes will be paid to Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who both died in a car crash in Spain last week.

As part of the announcement, Billy Hogan and Fenway Sport Group made a collective statement. It said: "The fact that in the long and storied history of our club this honour has never previously been bestowed shows the significance of Diogo to Liverpool Football Club.

That is the almost impossible question that may have been playing on Arne Slot’s mind ever since his squad decided to go ahead with today’s friendly against Preston, so soon after they had to bid the most painful of farewells to Diogo Jota.