NI star Conor Bradley among mourners as Liverpool players arrive for funeral of Diogo Jota
The father of three, who had recently married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, was killed alongside his brother Andre Silva after their car burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday.
Ms Cardoso was embraced by mourners outside the church. Other family members were visibly emotional as they arrived.
Liverpool stars past and present, including captain Virgil van Dijk and Northern Ireland's Conor Bradley are also attending the service.
The funeral, which begins at 10am, follows a wake held at the Capela da Ressurreicao yesterday.
The brothers' parents attended the Sao Cosme Chapel, with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Jota's agent also in attendance..
Also present were Liverpool executives and backroom staff, including CEO Billy Hogan, technical director Julian Ward - a former Larne player - and sporting director Richard Hughes.
National team stars Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, João Moutinho, Diogo Dalot and Ricardo Horta also attended the wake.
Queues formed outside the church as people held service sheets featuring pictures of both brothers, the largest one showing Jota smiling in his Liverpool shirt and making a heart sign with his hands.
Liverpool has postponed the players' return for pre-season training following Jota's death.
Manager Arne Slot said the 'sense of shock is absolute', adding: 'He was a loved one to all of us.'
Jordan Henderson pays emotional tribute to Diogo Jota outside Anfield
Jordan Henderson pays emotional tribute to Diogo Jota outside Anfield
On Friday former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson looked visibly upset as he returned to Anfield with flowers and a club scarf. A sea of floral tributes has been left outside the ground.
The club's Northern Ireland player Conor Bradley said Jota was "an incredible footballer but an even better person'.
'When I first moved up from the academy you were always there for me and always helped me settle in with the lads which I'll be forever grateful for,' he said.
'My thoughts are with your wife, children and family for losing both Diogo and Andre. I can't imagine how tough this is for you all, as I know how tough this feels for me today.
'Love you Jots, and I'm sure we will meet again.'
In Belfast, Liverpool supporters gathered to lay flowers outside the club's city centre merchandise store.
The store was closed on Friday as a mark of respect, with cards and flowers laid in his honour.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Poignant scenes at Diogo Jota's funeral cut through traditional football tribalism
Sunglasses concealing his tears, Virgil van Dijk carried a wreath of flowers artfully sculpted into a replica of Diogo Jota's Liverpool '20' shirt, a jersey so freighted with pain that it would never be worn again. Beside him Andy Robertson offered an identical tribute marked '30', the squad number that Jota's brother, Andre Silva, made his own at Portugal's FC Penafiel. The juxtaposition, reflecting the close fraternal bond that endured until the night they died together on a remote Spanish highway, felt almost unbearably poignant. 'Força!' cried one woman outside the little Baroque church in Gondomar, seeking to give the players strength on a day when they looked ready to dissolve. The desolation that assailed Van Dijk was acute. Captaincy of Liverpool confers many heavy responsibilities, but none so sorrowful as attending the funeral of a team-mate five years your junior. Twenty-eight years old: it is no time to die. Silva, who like Jota began playing at their hometown club within walking distance of the church, was just 25. The magnitude of the tragedy was such that even Manuel Linda, the bishop of Porto, acknowledged as he addressed the brothers' mother, Isabel, that no words of consolation were adequate. Faith is supposed to offer a blessed sanctuary at times like these. But Jurgen Klopp, a devout Christian and the man who brought Jota to Anfield, has expressed the prevailing sense of numbness, reflecting: 'There must be a higher purpose – but I can't see it.' These agonies were expressed most starkly by the sight of those left behind. Just two weeks earlier, Rute Cardoso had been at church in Porto to marry Jota, her childhood sweetheart, in a ceremony watched by the couple's three children, all under the age of five. On Saturday she was his widow, trailing behind his coffin, rosary beads hanging from her wrist and a photograph of the man she had lost clutched tightly in her hand. 'My dream came true,' she had written, excitedly posting a few pictures of her wedding dress. Just two days later, that dream would be destroyed in the most violent fashion on a dark road in remote northwestern Spain, where the car containing Jota and Silva veered out of control from a tyre blow-out before exploding in flames. It was the cruellest reminder of the ephemeral nature of hope, of the arbitrariness with which an entire family could be shattered. Visibly traumatised, Jota's peers travelled across the oceans to converge in solidarity. Ruben Neves, his closest friend in football, had been playing for Al-Hilal in a Club World Cup quarter-final in Orlando 13 hours earlier. But no sooner were his team eliminated by Fluminese than he and Joao Cancelo scrambled 4,000 miles east as Neves assumed his duties as pallbearer, the only non-family member to be given such a role. Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United captain, was also present, alongside Manchester City's Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, exemplifying the connections they had built across club lines with the Portuguese national team. The shattering impact of Jota and Silva's deaths so young has cut through the typical parameters of football tribalism. Even Oasis, a band so synonymous with City that they performed the opening concert of their reunion tour in Cardiff with a cardboard cut-out of Pep Guardiola on stage, felt compelled to honour Jota, beaming an image of his Liverpool strip on the giant screens over the closing strains of Live Forever. The tribute was wordless, but still genuinely affecting. For at a moment of shock so inexplicable, the best response is not rationalisation but simple respect. As Jose Mourinho put it: 'Three kids without a dad, a young woman without her husband, parents losing both sons? It's difficult to understand. Maybe one day we will, but not now.' A plangent Ave Maria, often chosen for Catholic funeral masses, hung in the air as the guests filed out of church into the mid-morning sunshine. It would be sure, in any circumstances, to make even the most stoic observers cry. But this time the significance of the musical choice was almost too much to absorb: it had, after all, been performed for Jota and his wife at their wedding a fortnight before. This time the same ensemble, from the Our Lady of the Lapa church, were back to recite it as he lay in a wooden casket. It was little wonder the Liverpool players in the congregation looked so bereft. One moment, they had been waiting to welcome him back for pre-season training. The next, they were assembling for his last goodbye.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Aasgaard becomes Rangers' fifth summer signing after Ibrox club complete £3.5million move for midfielder
Rangers last night completed the signing of Luton Town 's Norway international midfielder Thelo Aasgaard for a fee of around £3.5million. As exclusively revealed by Mail Sport earlier this week, Aasgaard was identified as a key target by new Ibrox boss Russell Martin. The 23-year-old has carved a reputation as a creative midfielder with an eye for goal during his time in English football. Aasgaard becomes the fifth arrival of the summer transfer window after Lyall Cameron, Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell and Emmanuel Fernandez. Now a fully-fledged international with Norway, Aasgaard insisted Martin's possession-based style of play was a big pull. 'I am delighted to be here,' he said. 'I have been waiting for it, but I am glad to get it over the line. The Norway international joined Luton in January but has moved on after the club were relegated to League One 'When I heard about Rangers (and their interest), I was over the moon. I have played against the manager's teams a few times and I always pictured myself in his team and to be here now is really good. 'It was an easy decision, I love the number of games here, it is like the EFL and I love playing. The stature and history is enough as well.' Aasgaard only joined Luton from Wigan for £3m back in January, but has now moved on following the club's relegation to League One. Aasgaard was born in Liverpool but qualifies to play for Norway through his father. He scored and also gave an assist on his debut for the national team back in March. After lining up alongside Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard, his Luton boss Matt Bloomfield said: 'He went away with elite company and looked right at home.' Aasgaard (right) came through the Liverpool academy before playing over 160 games for Wigan in the Championship and League One prior to joining Luton. 'We are delighted to bring Thelo to the club,' said Ibrox boss Martin, whose team will start their pre-season campaign with a friendly against Club Brugge this afternoon. 'His attributes will enhance the group. 'He is a player who we have liked for a long time, and we believe he possesses the necessary qualities to thrive at this club and in this team. 'He wants to win and develop as a player, and we believe we can help him do both.' Martin, meanwhile, feels anyone coming to Rangers must show him they are 'desperate' to play for the club as he looks to build for a successful first campaign in charge. The new manager will get a first opportunity to show Rangers fans his intentions with a pre-season friendly against Club Brugge today as the focus moves towards the Champions League qualifying tie against Panathinaikos. Whatever his final team will look like, Martin is determined the players must all show the required mindset to help take Rangers forward again. 'People need to be desperate to play for this club and not just be an option and one of a few options,' Martin told Rangers TV. 'Can you come here and add to us as a group in terms of your behaviour, the way you train, the way you work and who you are as a human being, your willingness to play in a way that we want to? Which is not for everyone because it's not easy. 'Also playing for this football club will not be for everyone — character first and then talent after and, if we get both, we will be really happy.' Defender Aarons has moved to Ibrox on loan from Bournemouth after spending the second half of last season on loan at Valencia. The 25-year-old is confident he can have an impact with Rangers as he looks to provide competition at right-back for Light Blues captain James Tavernier. 'When I look back, nearly every club I've been at, it's been a similar situation where the right-back has been the captain,' said Aarons, who was coming through at Norwich towards the end of Martin's time with the club. 'Tav's a great guy who has been successful here, so anything I can pick up from him will be amazing. 'But I am here to hopefully put my marker down and play as many games as I can and contribute to a successful season.'
Powys County Times
2 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Liverpool squad bid emotional farewell to Diogo Jota at team-mate's funeral
Liverpool's squad were united in their grief as they said farewell to team-mate Diogo Jota at the forward's funeral in Portugal. A service for the 28-year-old father-of-three, who married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso almost a fortnight ago, and his brother Andre Silva was held at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in their home town of Gondomar, near Porto, following their deaths in a car crash on Thursday. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson each carried a floral tribute in the shape of a red shirt bearing the respective numbers of the two brothers. Head coach Arne Slot and the majority of the squad were present, as were Michael Edwards – the man who signed Jota from Wolves in 2020 when he was sporting director and is now chief executive of football for owners Fenway Sports Group – current sporting director Richard Hughes and head of physiotherapy Lee Nobes, who would have spent many hours with the player during his injury lay-offs. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who was unable to attend his own father's funeral due to Covid restrictions four years ago, is on international duty with Brazil and so could not be present but posted a poignant message on Instagram which read: 'Usually, I post things that make sense, but today, nothing makes sense! 'Once again, an ocean separates me from 'saying goodbye' to someone I love! But I know that I am well represented by my club mates! 'To you, my friend Rute, just know that you will never walk alone, we will be with you as soon as possible!' Many of Jota's former team-mates also attended, including ex-Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who on Friday laid flowers at the makeshift shrine outside Anfield, James Milner, Thiago Alcantara, who signed in the same transfer window as Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher, Fabinho and former Wolves and Portugal team-mate Joao Moutinho. Manchester City's Portuguese duo Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias and Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, another international colleague, were also there, while his best friend Ruben Neves was a pallbearer, having flown in from Florida after playing for Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup on Friday night. Jota's former Wolves boss and now Nottingham Forest head coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, also attended. 'I can't even imagine the pain of the family, of Rute, of the children, of the parents,' Silva told Portuguese broadcaster TVI. 'I must talk a little about Jota, who was a great friend to all of us. His career, although not the most important thing, speaks for itself. 'More important than that, as a person, the memories that remain. Jota will remain in our hearts forever. He will always be present at all breakfasts, lunches, dinners, national team gatherings, PlayStation or card games. 'It is a very tough episode for all of us, because we spent a lot of time together. The memories I have with him are fantastic. These happy memories will remain, he will be present in every victory. 'We were rivals and team-mates for many years. He became a great friend. He was present at my wedding. Unfortunately, I wasn't at his, because I was at the Club World Cup. It is a family that will always be with us and that we will try to preserve.' Players from Penafiel, the team for whom Jota's brother played, also attended. A wake was held on Friday for the pair before the coffins were carried into church on Saturday morning followed by mourners, led by Jota's wife and family. After the service, which was broadcast to hundreds standing outside, they were taken to the cemetery next to the church for a private ceremony. A seventh-day mass will be held on Wednesday. Jota's national team manager Roberto Martinez, who was also in attendance, said: 'They are really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we have shown we are a very large, but close family. 'It was essential for us that, (with) Andre Silva and Diogo Jota, we are together and we will always be together and their spirit will be with us forever. 'Thank you very much for your messages, for your support and everything that we have received (from) all over the world. It means a lot and today we are all one football family.' Reports in Portugal say Liverpool have committed to paying out the remainder of Jota's two-year contract to his family. Tributes continue to be left at Anfield, where Everton manager David Moyes and assistant Alan Irvine laid flowers on Saturday with the message: 'With heartfelt sympathy, from David Moyes and everyone at Everton Football Club.' Manchester City-supporting brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher paid their own tribute at Oasis' comeback gig at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on Friday night when, during the final bars of Live Forever, a picture of Jota was displayed to cheers and applause.
