Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's tragic deaths show sport is nothing more than a joyful distraction from what truly matters

The Irish Sun

21 hours ago

AT THIS time of year, with the transfer market abuzz, there is a tendency to view elite footballers as commodities.
Their price-tags, fees, resale values and contract lengths are discussed by us all with the casual air of stockbrokers observing the gilt markets.
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Liverpool star Jota has tragically died aged 28
Credit: REUTERS
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He and his brother Andre Silva have sadly lost their lives in a car accident
Credit: FC Porto
And then on a sunny morning in early July, chilling news arrived from Spain which made all of that talk sound so trivial, so brutal, so cold.
Jota was a freshly crowned champion of England with Liverpool and a mainstay of the Portugal team who had just won the Nations League again and are rated as dark horses for next summer's World Cup.
But above all Jota was a human being, as fragile as the rest of us.
READ MORE ON DIOGO JOTA
A husband, a father, a son and a brother to Andre Silva — the 25-year-old fellow professional footballer who perished with him yesterday
Jota was at the peak of his powers and in the prime of his life — married for just 11 days, he had
The poignance was agonising; the grief of those left behind unimaginable.
When the news of Jota's death broke, it was a warm, sun-drenched summer's morning in
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Jota played 49 times for Portugal
Credit: Getty
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Diogo Jota died just days after his wedding to Rute Cardoso
Credit: fk.felippekatia
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The All England Club was opening up its gates for day four on Wimbledon's lawns, the cricketers of England and India were preparing for the second day of the Second Test at Edgbaston and transfer speculation was fizzing around online.
Then, suddenly, the world of sport froze.
For while sport is the most important of unimportant things, we all know at heart that it is nothing more than a joyful distraction from that which truly matters.
At Anfield,
Liverpool is a club which has sadly experienced tragedy too often before and which honours those lost with a fierce, protective pride.
At Anfield, Jota will never be forgotten.
Few football clubs cherish their heroes quite as warmly and Jota the Slotter, the clinical finisher with that extraordinary burst of pace, was
Sometimes, while watching the Reds, you could forget that Jota was on the pitch. Then, with a sudden acceleration and a thrust of the boot, he had won them the match.
He so often proved the matchwinner when arriving from the bench, in the Anfield supersub traditions of David Fairclough and Divock Origi.
But as a deep-lying centre-forward or from the left wing,
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Jota scored the first goal of the Slot era in a 2-0 opening-day victory at Ipswich and the last time he netted was the winner in the Merseyside derby in April.
A little over a month ago, he cavorted on the Anfield pitch when Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy.
Jota, capped 49 times by his country, was not the star of his club or international teams. Those were Mo Salah and
Yet football's Galacticos do not win trophies without the versatility and selfless work-rate of players like Jota.
Still, his record of 65 goals in 182 appearances for the Reds was extraordinary for a player who was not a regular starter.
In five seasons, he won every major domestic honour and played in a Champions League final, against Real Madrid in 2022, which Liverpool were unfortunate to lose 1-0.
After spells with Pacos de Ferreira and
At Molineux, his loss was also deeply felt by a club where he was 'adored and cherished'.
Yet this year had represented his peak, as a footballer and as a man.
In the space of a month Jota won major honours with Liverpool and
'I'm the lucky one,' Jota had posted on social media.
How heartbreaking those words read now. How fragile we are.
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Floral tributes have been laid for Jota at Anfield
Credit: Reuters
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Jota shared pictures of his wedding just hours before he passed
Credit: Instagram
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Jota will go down in history at Liverpool after helping Liverpool win a historic 20th league title last season
Credit: Reuters