Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan confirmed in an interview on Thursday through the club's official website that this weekend's pre-season friendly, in an away match against Preston will go on as usual.

Hogan personally confirmed this in the interview after laying wreaths on behalf of Liverpool management outside Anfield to mourn the club's Portugual international forward Diogo Jota, who unfortunately died in a car accident last week.

He said, he had asked everyone's opinions when the players returned to the team to report for pre-season fitness tests the day before (Wednesday), and all players, including head coach Arne Slot agreed not to cancel this weekend's pre-season friendly.

However, as the current time is still very sensitive, he hopes fans, media and reporters can not follow the staff's every move like paparazzi all the time, so as to let everyone to start preparations for the new season calmly and respect the private space of the players, staff and Jota's family and friends.

Asked if he was touched by the spontaneous memorials for Jota from fans around the world, Hogan said: "Firstly, I want to say that obviously, we've all seen it here today, and many of them have been here before us to pay their respects to Diogo and André Silva and to pay their respects to the families."

"Obviously, even though it's only been a few days, we all know that this is a very sad time for all of us. We are a club that is still in mourning and we are all shocked by what has happened. I can't imagine how hard it is for the families."

"I think what we're seeing behind me here shows how powerful the love, support and care for Diogo's family is, and to have the opportunity to walk slowly down this street and read the condolence cards that have been written, and think about our club anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" means a lot at this moment." 

"I think it just shows how passionately we all want to make sure that we all have our thoughts and support for the families and that we all get through this difficult time together." 

When asked if the club would decide on a permanent memorial for Diogo Jota, Hogan said it was not the right time to talk about it, but that a permanent memorial would be announced at an appropriate time. 

"It's only been a few days and it's obviously not the right time to talk about it. I think it's important that we make sure that the family is respected as they should be in this grieving process," he said. 

"As a club, we obviously have a lot of ideas and the fans certainly have a lot of ideas and that's one of the things we plan to propose to the family and we will talk to the family at an appropriate time."

"Obviously, the heartbreak that the family has gone through over the last few days is beyond words for all of us. We will certainly announce at an appropriate time some special way to permanently memorialize both André and Diogo. "

"We will obviously have some memorials for André and Diogo this Sunday against Preston at Deepdale, and then during the pre-season tour, back at Anfield, and on the first day of the new season." 

"But our priority now is to make sure we wait until the right time to remember André and Diogo properly to respect the privacy of their families and friends." 

In addition, according to the news brought by the Liverpool ECHO, the EFL Championship club has spontaneously agreed to let the British TV station iTV1 broadcast the friendly live for free, and all the profits from the tickets will be donated to the families of the Jota and André brothers. 

At the same time, except for Alisson, Luis Díaz and some players who played for their national teams in June, other players have returned to the Premier League giants to report for the first pre-season training session.