As the clock ticked over to 18 minutes at Anfield on Saturday, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ supporters began a spontaneous tribute to one of their modern icons.

“It’s Diogo, not Diego, makes me happy, makes me feel this way,” rang out from their section of the Anfield Road Stand to the tune of Rufus and Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody.

Liverpool fans applauded in solidarity.

Two minutes later, the commemoration of Wolves’ former No 18 turned seamlessly into a full-throated remembrance of Liverpool’s former No 20 as the rest of Anfield launched into Merseyside’s version of a Diogo Jota tribute. Wolves’ fans reciprocated the applause.

It is not a normal sight to see two passionate sets of Premier League fans united in a common purpose. But Saturday at Anfield was not a normal day.

Liverpool, the defending but sometimes misfiring Premier League champions, claimed a 2-1 victory over a Wolves side still marooned on two points after 18 games. All fairly standard. But the game was played out against the backdrop of something much, much bigger as Liverpool and Wolves came together to remember one of their favourite sons.

Jota was killed in July, aged 28, alongside his brother Andre Silva in a car crash in Spain. And Saturday was the first time the two English clubs he represented with such distinction had met since the tragedy.

Fans of Wolves and Liverpool remembered Diogo Jota on Saturday (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

“It was difficult but, in a way, also special and nice,” said Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. “Again, the football world shows how to behave in moments like this. Our fans have been incredible, since the tragedy has happened until today, in every single moment.

“They did what you would hope they would in memory of him. But today the away fans showed that it’s not only about our fans, it’s also about fans of other teams.”

The poignant tone for the weekend was set on Friday evening when Wolves’ squad and first-team staff took a coach journey from their pre-match Liverpool hotel to Anfield to pay their respects to the forward who spent three seasons wowing crowds at Molineux. After joining in 2017, he helped Wolves earn promotion from the Championship and achieve successive seventh-place Premier League finishes, as well as reach a Europa League quarter-final and an FA Cup semi-final.

Jose Sa, the goalkeeper who played with Jota for Portugal, laid flowers, as did head coach Rob Edwards and interim chairman Nathan Shi.