Despite captaining Liverpool to a 2-0 win over Leeds United in Tuesday night's EFL Cup game, Lucas Leiva admitted that his mind was on the Chapecoense air disaster which took the lives of his compatriots.
Goals from Divock Origi and Benjamin Woodburn were enough to seal victory but the day was overshadowed by the air crash that took the lives of 71 people when a chartered aircraft carrying players and staff of the Chapecoense team crashed en route to Medellin, Colombia.
The team were on their way to participate in the Copa Sudamericana final first leg game against Atletico Nacional, and Lucas had played with some of the players from the Chapecoense team in his earlier years.
"It was a terrible accident. I have a few people that I played with [on the flight], some young players," Lucas told Sky Sports, having led his team in a minute's silence before the match.
"It was very hard for me to play tonight because I know a lot of people there.
"We just hope that the families have the support that they need and the victims rest in peace."
The football world were deeply saddened by the disaster with Barcelona and Real Madrid coaches Luis Enrique and Zinedine Zidane calling for unity from the fraternity.
"I would like to send my support and the support of my club to all the family and friends of the people that died in this accident in Colombia," said Zidane.
"And also, of course, to the club Chapecoense and all of their supporters. We are very sorry for what happened."
His counterpart Enrique had the same thoughts and has urged authorities to carry out investigations to prevent such cases from happening again.
"It is an enormous tragedy," said Barcelona head coach Enrique.
"I think it is mandatory to carry out a deep investigation to confirm every security measure was in place.
"Obviously, we are not talking of a situation which affects only sport, but families and many different persons. We have to lament it deeply and sending out all our condolences."