Diogo Jota's wake LIVE: Heartbroken mourners gather to pay respects in Portugal after Liverpool footballer died aged 28 in tragic car crash alongside his brother

Marc Cucurella told Pedro Neto that he believes it is his ‘destiny’ to score in their Club World Cup quarter-final versus Palmeiras on Friday in honour of Diogo Jota.

It is not guaranteed that Neto will feature as Chelsea are leaving it to the Portugal international to decide personally after the passing of his international team-mate.

But Cucurella told reporters at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night: ‘In the morning he was sad and it was not his best moment. But we tried to stay together and in the afternoon, he was a bit better.

‘I told him that if he’s going to play then he will score because that is destiny. Hopefully we can show his love and all the good friends that we are and dedicate the goal to him.

‘It’s a bad moment. We send all our love to the family, the wife, the kids, and I do it from me, the whole Chelsea squad, and football. Football is not important at times like this. The most important thing is that we show respect and all our love.

‘I saw it as soon as I woke up. It was a difficult moment because these things can happen to all of us in any moment and then you start to think if you don’t feel good, or you don’t give 100 per cent, or feel s*** when these things happen, it’s important to be happy and live life every day.’