Liverpool's Portuguese forward Diogo Jota dies in car crash in Spain
"We have lost two champions. Their deaths represent irreparable losses for Portuguese football, and we will do everything we can to honour their legacy every day," the Portuguese Football Federation said in a statement.
Spanish police told Reuters they could not yet officially confirm the names of the deceased, but everything pointed to it being Jota and his brother. The Lamborghini they were travelling in veered off the road, the spokesperson said.
The bodies have been taken to a forensics unit in Zamora, where autopsies will be performed, they said.
Who was Diogo Jota?
Jota, who got married in June, helped Liverpool win the Premier League last season and also won the FA Cup and League Cup with the Merseyside outfit.
Jota and his wife just had their third baby on November 26, according to posts made on Instagram.
"He just won the Prem, Nations League, and got married all within a month," wrote one user on Instagram. "And his life has been cut short. RIP"
Jota arrived at Anfield, Liverpool's football [soccer] club, from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020 and scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for the club in all competitions.
"Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota," the club wrote in a post on X.
He also made 49 appearances for Portugal, twice winning the UEFA Nations League.
Contributing: Reuters
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38 minutes ago
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Live Bodies of Diogo Jota and brother greeted by mourners at church in Portugal
By James Badcock in Madrid The bodies of Diogo Jota and his brother André, who died in a horrific car crash in Spain on Thursday, arrived in the Liverpool footballer's home town of Gondomar, outside Porto, just before 1am on Friday morning. Two vehicles, including a hearse, were greeted with applause and tears by locals and fans who lined the streets near the San Cosme funeral parlour and Gondomar's main church, where a funeral will take place on Saturday morning. A wake is planned for Friday afternoon in the funeral parlour and its adjoining chapel. The arrival of the bodies, to cheers of the name 'Diogo' from some members of the crowd, came almost exactly 24 hours after the two brothers had died on the A52 highway in north western Spain, where the car they were travelling in slid off the road and burst into flames. On Friday morning, Spain's Guardia Civil highway police division said that its investigation into the crash was ongoing. On Thursday, a provisional statement said that it had been caused by a tyre blow-out just as the two brothers were overtaking another vehicle on the dual carriageway. The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is expected to attend the wake in Gondomar on Friday. Fans and well-wishers have begun to create shrines in memory of Diogo Jota in Gondomar. Underneath a sign for the 'Diogo Jota Academy', as the youth team training facilities of Gondomar football club were renamed in 2022, candles were lit in memory of the Portuguese international and of his younger brother, also a football player in the country's lower leagues. Scarves, shirts and pendants from various clubs including Gondomar and FC Porto, where Diogo Jota played before moving to Wolves and the Premier League, were present. The sign quotes a comment by Diogo Jota, which has become the motto of the club: 'It doesn't matter where we come from, but where we are going.' Fernando Santos, the coach who first picked Diogo Jota for the Portuguese national team, paid tribute to the player. 'What impressed me most about Diogo Jota was his character, his personality and determination to win.'
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Brooklyn Beckham's brother makes heartbreaking plea after Diogo Jota death
Romeo and Cruz Beckham have paid tribute to Premier League footballer Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Felipe, died in a crash in Zamora near Spain's north-west border with Portugal Romeo Beckham has shared a poignant post about 'life being too short', after being rocked by the death of footballer Diogo Jota. The 28-year-old Premier League footballer and his brother, Andre Felipe, died in a horror crash in Zamora near Spain's north-west border with Portugal. The tragic incident occurred just days after Jota's marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, who had to identify her husband and his brother after the devastating incident. After the news was made public, Romeo took to his Instagram to share a black and white photo and four broken love hearts. Romeo then followed this up with a second post about reaching out to loved ones as he. urged 'don't hold back from love.' Emotional Romeo, 22, wrote: "Life is too short. Love who you love and tell them how much you really do. Life can flash before your eyes in a moment. But the people who truly love you and care for you will always be there. DON'T hold back from love or appreciation for anything or anyone." Romeo's younger brother Cruz, also took to his Instagram stories to share a tribute to the football star. Alongside a picture of Jota, he posted a series of love heart emojis to share his sadness at the tragic news. The boys followed their dad David who earlier in the day penned touching tribute as he joined the football community reacting to the brothers' deaths. "Devastating to hear this such sad news.. Sending love to Diogo & Andre's families," he wrote. While Cruz and David's tributes were straightforward, fans of the Beckham family believe that Romeo's tribute had a cryptic underlying meaning aimed at Brooklyn who he has reportedly fallen out with in recent months. Taking to Reddit, users shared their thoughts. One wrote: "There's no denying that Romeo's words were aimed at Brooklyn. Maybe they are now starting to see clearly how silly this row is. Nothing is more important than family and when things like this happen it puts everything into perspective." Another Reddit user echoed: "I feel like Romeo is very emotionally intelligent and perhaps feels like this is a way to send a message to Brooklyn." While someone else agreed: "If something every happens to the Beckham family they will regret this for the rest of their lives. Nothing is worth falling out with your family over." Piers Morgan also shared a tribute on social media. On Twitter /X, he wrote: "Desperately sad news coming out of Spain that Liverpool and Portugal star Diogo Jota, 28, has died, along with his brother, in a car accident in Zamora. He only got married 2 weeks ago. Heart-breaking." Others paying respects on social media was footballer Harry Maguire's wife, Fern Maguire. She shared the Premier League's tribute as she wrote: "Utterly heartbreaking."
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The road where Diogo Jota and his brother tragically died in a car crash is notorious for being one of the most dangerous in the region. The Liverpool forward, 28, and his brother Andre Silva, 26, were killed just past midnight on Thursday morning on the A-52 at Cernadilla, near Zamora in northwestern Spain. It is believed that the Lamborghini they were travelling in veered off the road after the tyre was suspected to have blown out, before going up in flames. The two professional footballers had been travelling through Zamora towards Santander in order to catch a ferry to the UK ahead of the new football season. Now, it has emerged that the A-52, known as the Rias Bajas, is notorious for being a particularly deadly highway. Built in 1998, it is said to see more accidents than any other in the region, with the central government representative for the province of Zamora, Angel Blanco, describing it as 'very dangerous'. The year 2023 alone saw 19 accidents on the dual carriageway, which is full of high-speed bends, with an average of 1.5 deaths per incident. According to Cope, many of those accidents came during optimal conditions, such as dry road surfaces, good visibility, flowing traffic and natural light. At night, however, there is said to be poor visibility, while the road running through mountainous and forested areas means the area also suffers from recurrent fog spells. Thousands of vehicles take the A-52 each day, but data shows that many crashes occur on the straight, high-speed stretches, where one mistake can be fatal. The main causes of accidents there are distractions and a lack of attention, as well as overconfidence, though that has not been confirmed as the case in the Jota brothers' tragic crash. The area where the Liverpool star came off the tarmac is also a well-known hotspot for wolves, according to La Razon. The Iberian wolves in the area, as well as deer, pose a huge risk of serious accidents due to the lack of fencing and the deterioration of wildlife crossings, giving wild animals easy access to the motorway. La Voz de Galicia reports that the A-52 is not the only road in the province of Zamora where wolf accidents are common. The animal is also abundant in the corridor between Benavente and Orense via Sanabria (N-525 and A-52); the N-630 between Benavente and Montamarta, the N-631 between Montamarta and Rionegro del Puente and the N-122 between Zamora and Portugal via Aliste, in addition to other secondary roads. Reports were also filed in recent years to motorists' organisation AEA Club drawing attention to the treacherous potholes that "riddled" the road surface. There were no fewer than 40 official pothole complaints made to Spain's transport ministry in a single month last year, according to local news outlet La Opinión de Zamora. One family published a photo of a tyre that had been completely shredded by one of the hazards. Meanwhile, another complaint in 2018 said a lack of signage nearly caused a driver to crash as it failed to alert them of a lane ending. Jota is believed to have been travelling to Santander to take a ferry back to the UK on Thursday morning after he was advised not to take a flight following recent lung surgery. The Portugal international missed several games last season after sustaining a rib injury against Chelsea back in October. Emergency services were called to the scene of the crash, where the fire had spread to the nearby vegetation. Although they managed to put the flames out, the two brothers were pronounced dead at the scene. The funerals will be held at 10am on Saturday in their home town of Gondomar, near the Portuguese city of Porto.
