Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has expressed his disappointment towards fans who disrupted the minute’s silence in memory of Diogo Jota before Sunday’s Community Shield.
Both Liverpool and Crystal Palace gathered around the centre circle for what was supposed to be a minute of memory to Jota, who passed away alongside his brother, André Silva, in a car accident earlier this summer. Unfortunately, the silent tribute had to be cut short after noise from a number of supporters in the Palace end sparked a frustrated response which soon turned into deafening boos.
“Yeah, I’m disappointed,” Van Dijk reflected on the incident after Palace’s penalty shootout victory. “That’s the only thing I can say. There was plenty trying to shush it down, but obviously that doesn’t help them. It is what it is.
“You can’t control... how many people were here? 80,000, so yeah, it’s disappointing to hear that. But if those persons can go home and be happy with themselves, then...”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot offered a more optimistic response, arguing the fans responsible for the noise were not intentionally acting with malice.
“I don’t think this was planned, or that this was the idea of the fan that made some noise,” Slot began. “Maybe he wasn’t aware of the fact that it was the minute of silence.
“He was just still happy and tried to cheer for his team. And I think then the fans of Palace were trying to calm that person or those persons down, so I don’t think he had a bad intention, the guy or people that made noise. They tried to calm him down, but that was a bit noisy as well. And then our fans reacted, ‘Hey, what’s happening here?’
“So I don’t think there’s a bad intention to it, because the fans of Crystal Palace and everywhere around the world have paid huge respect to Diogo and André and this was, I think, unlucky or... I can’t find the right words, but I don’t think there was a bad intention in it. We will see Friday, when Bournemouth come to our stadium, how respectful that is going to happen.
“It’s also five weeks ago, so that’s why maybe this fan who was just so happy for them to be in the Community Shield that he forgot in a second.”
Five Year Plan, a popular Palace fanzine, released a statement in the aftermath. The group acknowledged the disappointing nature of some supporters’ behaviour, but echoed Slot by insisting others were simply unaware of the minute’s silence.
“A lot of our fans had difficulty getting into the ground,” the statement began. “Stewarding was a mess. Some came into the concourse without realising what was going on. All we can do is apologise. It’s a disappointing thing to have happened and we’re sorry.
"We’ve had a good rapport with Liverpool fans over the years. We don’t do tragedy chanting, we care for our community. We have a lot in common as fans. We’re certain no one would have intentionally disrupted the moment of silence. Our thoughts are with Diogo, André and family.
“Some of our own fans have said people did boo. Which is really disappointing. Jota’s death shocked us.
“We can’t believe people would boo any memorial to him. Let alone our own fans. We can’t speak for them but we can apologise for their actions. So we’re sorry.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Virgil van Dijk Hits Out Over Disrupted Diogo Jota Tribute in Community Shield.