Relatives and friends of the Liverpool striker Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva gathered Friday in a church where their bodies were taken for a wake and funeral, after the Portuguese players died in a car accident in Spain.
Some hugged and cried before entering the capela da ressurreição são cosme, where the funeral of the brothers is planned on Saturday.
Jota, 28, and his 25 brother were found dead near Zamora, in the northwest of Spain, after the Lamborghini in which they were traveling crashed into an isolated section of the highway shortly after midnight on Thursday and exploded in flames.
Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family, Spanish government officials said.
A tribute to Diogo Jota of former Liverpool Captain Jordan Henderson at the Anfield stadium, July 4, 2025. Photo Ap
Jota and his parents live in Gondomar, where he began his career as a child player. Gondomar is a worker town next to Porto, where Jota was born.
Jota’s death occurred two weeks after marrying his many -year partner, Cardoso Rute, during the holidays after a long season in which he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. The couple had three children, the youngest of whom was born last year.
The Spanish police are investigating the cause of the accident, in which another vehicle was involved, they said.
His brother Silva played in the Penafiel Portuguese club in the lower divisions.
The condolences arrived from the Portuguese officials and the world of football as the news of the accident was disseminated.
Diogo Jota del Liverpool celebrates a goal during the Premier League match by Carow Road in Norwich, on August 14, 2021. Photo Ap
Liverpool fans deposited crowns of flowers and scarves of the team outside the Anfield stadium, while saving a moment of silence before the match between Portugal and Spain in the European Women’s Championship in Switzerland.
The loss felt hard in his hometown, especially in his first football club, where Jota began playing at age nine.
“He never forgot his roots, or his friends, because he had a group of friends who were with him in the training here in Gondomar and who even invited the Liverpool games in England occasionally,” said Gondomar SC director, Anselmo Serra.
“They were like a group of friends who never forgot over the years.”
