Diogo Jota's wife and parents wipe away tears as Wolves pay tribute to tragic star
Diogo Jota 's grieving wife and parents wiped tears away as Wolves paid a poignant tribute to their former player.
The incredible tribute took place at Molineux on Saturday ahead of their eir Premier League curtain-raiser against Manchester City. It showed a giant Jota celebrating a goal during his time as a Wolves player - whom he led tot he Championship title and promotion, before back-to-back seventh place finishes in the Premier League.
Alongside the tifo, a banner was displayed on the pitch which bore the words: "We'll remember you when you walk in fields of gold."
Jota's wife, Rute Cardoso, was present for the clash accompanied by Ruben Neves, Jota's former Wolves and Portugal team-mate and one of his closest friends, who also acted as a pallbearer at his funeral following his heartbreaking death last month.
The parents of Jota and Andre Silva, who perished alongside his brother in the car accident in Spain, were also present for the match. Like Jota's wife, Isabel and Joaquim Silva were moved to tears.
The Mirror reports that as the clock passed the 18-minute mark in the encounter, supporters around the ground stood and clapped for 60 seconds in honour of Jota, who donned the No. 18 shirt for Wolves during his stay in the Black Country.
Jota moved to Liverpool from Wolves in 2020, spending five years at Anfield, and Liverpool's Premier League opener against Bournemouth on Friday also featured numerous tributes to Jota.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admitted post-game that, when his side were chasing a winner, he would have loved to have been able to call on Jota from his substitutes' bench.
Slot said: "Normally at 2-2 everyone knows which player I look to at that moment in time. I would have loved to bring in Diogo Jota, but I could not for terrible reasons. But tonight the fans and the players did what he did for us many times in the past."
The hero of the match, Federico Chiesa, who scored Liverpool's go-ahead goal to make it 3-2 late on, also paid tribute to Jota in a post-match interview, saying: "[The goal] was a great moment for me, but my thoughts go to Diogo.
"I think for what we have seen it was his day. The feeling that the fans gave me, chanting his song all the way through the match. It was very emotional, very emotional for me. I have to say that after the goal my thoughts went to his family, his brother Andre. That's the only thing I could say.
"At the end of the day we have to focus on the football. We wanted to win today. It was a difficult match, we went 2-0 up and then they came back, but we showed why we are champions. Of course Diogo would have helped us a lot but unfortunately he was somewhere else and he helped us in another way."
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