The soccer world is in mourning following the death of Liverpool and Portugal star Diogo Jota in a car crash in Spain early on Thursday morning. He was 28.
His brother, André Silva – who was also a professional footballer – also died in the accident at the age of 25.
Jota married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, with whom he has three children, less than two weeks before the crash.
The incident occurred around 12:30 a.m. local time on the A-52 road in Zamora, northwestern Spain, and was caused by a “burst tire while overtaking,” the country’s Guardia Civil said on Thursday. The vehicle that Jota and his brother were in left the road and subsequently caught fire, officials said. It is not known which brother was driving the car, which Spanish media reported was a Lamborghini.
The authorities identified the remains based on documents recovered at the scene of the accident, as well as the car’s license plate, CNN Portugal reported. Further forensic testing at a morgue in Zamora confirmed the brothers’ identities, according to CNN Portugal.
For investigation, the remains were moved to the nearby town of Puebla de Sanabria, a source close to the sub-delegate of the Spanish government in Zamora told CNN. The players’ family was present in Puebla de Sanabria on Thursday afternoon to finalize the administrative requirements which allow the remains to be released and returned to Portugal, CNN Portugal reported.
A source from the Government Sub-delegation in Zamora told PA that the crash is being investigated as “a possible speeding incident.”
A wake for Jota and André Silva’s family began on Friday morning at a church in the brothers’ hometown of Gondomar, near Porto, the church told CNN. It added that the doors at the Igreja Martiz de Gondomar will open to the public on Friday afternoon.
A funeral is set to take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), the church said.
Jota played an important role in the Liverpool team which lifted the Premier League trophy just over two months ago, equaling the English record of 20 top-flight titles. He featured in 26 of the club’s 38 league games, scoring six goals and providing four assists. In total, he scored 65 goals across five years on Merseyside, also winning one FA Cup and two EFL Cups.
Jota was part of the Portugal national team which won the Nations League in June this year, having also won the competition in 2019.
André Silva played for Futebol Clube de Penafiel in the Liga Portugal 2, the country’s second division. In total, he scored 12 goals and contributed 10 assists in 105 matches at full and youth level throughout his career.
Tributes from the soccer world came flooding in throughout Thursday. Portuguese great Cristiano Ronaldo wrote that his compatriot’s death “does not make sense,” while former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who signed Jota for the club in 2020, offered “prayers, thoughts and power” to Jota and André Silva’s family.
Current Liverpool manager Arne Slot also paid his respects, writing: “When the time is right, we will celebrate Diogo Jota, we will remember his goals and we will sing his song. For the time being, we will remember him as a unique human being and mourn his loss. He will never be forgotten.”
Tributes also came in from beyond soccer, from the likes of NBA star LeBron James and the United Kingdom’s Prince William, who said he was “deeply saddened.”
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