Liverpool forward Diogo Jota was tragically killed in a fatal car crash alongside his brother in the early hours of Thursday morning, plunging the footballing world into mourning
Diogo Jota was killed while making his way back to Liverpool. The 28-year-old passed away on Thursday morning following a fatal car accident in northwest Spain that also claimed the life of his younger brother, Andre Silva.
Liverpool’s pre-season gets underway next week and Jota was on his way to the port city of Santander to catch a ferry back to the UK when the Lamborghini he was travelling in spun off the road and burst into flames near the town of Zamora, following a tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle.
The fire damage from the crash was so severe that it prevented tests from being carried out to confirm that the two victims were Jota and his brother. Jota’s wife had to identify the pair as police at the scene had been unable to ID either man.
The Portugal international had been advised not to fly following lung surgery and was planning to sail back to England with his brother. They were heading to Santander, via an overnight stop off in Benavente, and were due to get a ferry back to Portsmouth.
“The surgery he had had was lung surgery and he had been advised against flying following this,” CNN Portugal’s Rui Laura explained. “He was on his way to the northern Spanish port city of Santander to cross the ferry and reach the UK that way and carry on with the car once he reached Britain. He was on his way to Liverpool with his brother.”JotA had spent time in his homeland after coming on as a substitute in Portugal’s penalty shootout victory over Spain in the final of the Nations League on June 8. While there, he married long-term partner and the mother of his three children, Rute Cardoso, in a ceremony in Porto just 11 days before his passing.
