Diogo Jota tributes laid at AXA Training Centre as Liverpool begin pre-season

Liverpool’s players have reported back for pre-season training at the club’s AXA Training Centre following Diogo Jota‘s funeral on Saturday.

Jota was killed in a car crash in Spain last Thursday alongside his brother Andre Silva and their funeral in their home town of Gondomar, near Porto, was attended by many of the Portugal forward’s Liverpool team-mates and staff.

Some of Arne Slot‘s squad had been scheduled to return for pre-season training on Friday, but the club delayed their return following the accident.

Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley and Wataru Endo were among the players pictured arriving at the training ground.

Liverpool’s first pre-season friendly is scheduled for Sunday against Preston at Deepdale, but the Premier League champions have yet to announce whether the game will go ahead.

The Reds, who will play FA Cup winners Crystal Palace in the Community Shield on August 10, are also scheduled to face AC Milan in Hong Kong and J1 League side Yokohama in Japan at the end of this month.

Liverpool Women players Gemma Bonner and Grace Fisk paid their respects to Jota and his brother at Anfield on Tuesday.

The pair signed the book of condolence and laid a wreath outside the stadium on behalf of the women’s team.

Fitness tests first up

Additional reporting via Joanna Durkan

Upon arriving, players will be put under the microscope early on with the six-minute race test (6MRT), which replaced the dreaded lactate test in Slot’s first summer in charge.

Ruben Peeters, the first-team lead physical performance coach, oversaw the change which asks players to run as fast as possible for six minutes around what is usually a 400-metre track.

It evaluates maximal aerobic speed, and the performance staff can use the data to plan accordingly based on each player’s results.

In simpler terms, it assesses aerobic endurance fitness, which is the ability of the body to use oxygen as an energy source.

The club’s fitness staff are looking for each player’s base fitness level after their summer break, with everyone individually assessed with the 6MRT and more.