'I couldn't get my mate Diogo out of my head today'

Robertson pays emotional tribute to Jota after achieving their shared World Cup dream

- By Paul Gorst

Even as one of his closest friends in the Liverpool squad, the timing of Andy Robertson's poignant and emotional tribute to Diogo Jota on Tuesday night was startling.

‘The Reds’ vice-captain had just skippered Scotland to their first World Cup since 1998 in glorious and dramatic style when he, without a prompt, turned the conversation towards his old mate ‘MacJota; the nickname given to the popular Portuguese for being the “most British foreign player” he had ever met.

“T've hid it well but today I've been in bits,’ Robertson revealed in his remarkably candid BBC interview. “I know the age I'm at, this is my last chance of a World Cup, and I couldn't get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today. We spoke so much together about this World Cup.

“He missed out on (2022 World Cup in) Qatar through injury and I missed out because Scotland never went. We always discussed what it'd be like going to this World Cup and I know he'll be somewhere smiling over me tonight.

“I couldn't get him out of my head the whole day so I was in a bit of trouble in my room. But I hid it well from the boys and I’m just so glad it’s ended up this way.”

It was the sort of postmatch admission that only endeared Robertson further to a Liverpool fanbase who already view him as a modern-day great and a legendary figure at Anfield.