The sports and football world is in shock over the death of Diogo Jota, at 28 years old, after a car accident early Thursday morning on the A-52 highway near the Spanish town of Cernadilla, just a few kilometers from the border with Portugal.
The Liverpool FC player, who was accompanied by his brother André Silva, lost control of his Lamborghini, veered off the road, and the car caught on fire.
According to the Government Delegation in Castilla y León, the vehicle in which Diogo Jota was traveling reportedly suffered a “tire blowout while overtaking,” as reported by ABC.
Where was Diogo Jota going?
According to information from the Portuguese media outlet, A Bola, the player was prohibited from traveling by plane on medical advice after recently undergoing lung surgery, which is why he took his car and, along with his brother, they were heading towards the Spanish city of Santander, in Cantabria, to take a ferry that would take them to Portsmouth, in Great Britain.
From the southern port of England, they were going to travel another 500 km to Liverpool to join the “Reds” preseason. According to ABC, the boat was scheduled to depart this Thursday at 4 pm and arrive at 11 am on Friday in Portsmouth.
Diogo Jota had just gotten married
Just 10 days ago, the player who had just won the Premier League title with Liverpool and the Nations League with the Portugal national team, got married to Rute Cardoso, who is the mother of his three children: a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a seven-month-old girl.
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said of Diogo Jota that “he was an exceptional player. He had a future ahead of him. It is natural for the older ones to leave, not the young ones. It is horrible how everything happened.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, in turn, wrote on his social media that “it makes no sense. We were just together in the national team, and now you were married. To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo and André. We will all miss you.”