Nearly a year after the deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, Liverpool Football Club has pulled back the curtain on a permanent memorial designed to keep the pair’s memory woven into the fabric of Anfield for generations to come.
Named Forever 20, the tribute centres on a sweeping, ribbon-like heart sculpture — a direct nod to the trademark goal celebration that made Jota instantly recognisable to Liverpool supporters. The design isn’t static, either: shift your vantage point and the flowing steel resolves into the numbers 20 and 30, the shirt numbers Jota and Silva wore during their respective playing careers.
Small, deeply personal touches round out the piece. A model of a video game controller sits on the plinth, a quiet acknowledgment of Jota’s well-known love of gaming, which itself inspired one of his other celebrations on the pitch. Etched into the folds of the sculpture are the lyrics to the chant Liverpool fans have adopted as their own tribute — the song still belted out around Anfield in the 20th minute of every home match, a ritual that shows no sign of fading.
Built From the Tributes Fans Left Behind
Perhaps the most striking element isn’t visible at first glance. The memorial rests on a rough-hewn Granby rock-faced stone plinth that has been laser-engraved with a dedication to both brothers — and embedded within it are fragments of the thousands of physical tributes fans laid outside the stadium in the days after the tragedy: scarves, flowers, cards, banners, artwork, and even shirts from rival clubs, all folded into the memorial through what the club has described as a bespoke recycling process.
That detail matters. Rather than simply commissioning a standalone artwork, Liverpool chose to physically incorporate the outpouring of grief and affection from supporters into the structure itself, so that the tribute fans built spontaneously last summer becomes a permanent part of the one that will stand for years.
Why 97 Avenue
The sculpture’s planned location carries its own weight. It will stand on 97 Avenue, immediately outside the stadium — the exact spot where mourners gathered spontaneously in July last year to lay flowers, scarves and messages after news broke that Jota and Silva had been killed in a car accident in northern Spain while travelling to catch a ferry back to England ahead of pre-season training. Jota, freshly crowned a Premier League champion at 28, had reportedly been advised against flying following a minor surgical procedure, prompting the road journey.
The choice of address is not incidental. 97 Avenue takes its name in memory of the 97 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster, linking this newest chapter of loss to a club that has, across its history, built its identity partly around remembering those taken too soon.
For a fanbase that has already spent a season singing Jota’s song every 20th minute, the sculpture feels less like the end of a mourning process and more like its permanent home — a fixed point at Anfield where supporters can keep doing what they’ve done all year: remember, together.
