Eyewitnesses dispute Spanish police version of DIOGO JOTA’s tragic crash

Thursday, July 10, 2025 - Two eyewitnesses have come forward to challenge Spanish police claims that Liverpool star Diogo Jota was speeding when he crashed his Lamborghini in northern Spain. The 28-year-old footballer died alongside his 26-year-old brother, Andre Silva, last Thursday.

Police in Zamora suggested the £180,000 Lamborghini Huracan was travelling well above the 120kph (74mph) limit and possibly suffered a tyre blowout. However, on Wednesday, Portuguese lorry driver Jose Azevedo, who filmed Jota’s car in flames on the A-52 in Cernadilla, insisted the vehicle had passed him “super calmly” and “without speeding.”

Azevedo said he stopped and tried to help with a fire extinguisher, but there was “nothing” he could do to save Jota and his brother. “They passed me super calmly, without speeding. My conscience is clear. I tried to help, but because of the impact—forget it—there was nothing I could do,” he said.

Another truck driver, identified locally as Jose Aleixo Duarte, told Portuguese media that Jota’s Lamborghini overtook him just five minutes before the crash at a “moderate speed.” He criticised the poor state of the road where the fatal accident happened.

Spanish road safety expert Javier Lopez Delgado pointed to multiple factors, including the speed, tyre condition, and poor road infrastructure. He said: “If they had been going at 55mph they probably wouldn’t have been killed. It seems very clear they were going very fast because of the skid marks.” But he also blamed the road, saying it had “many faults,” and noted a similar crash had happened there just eight days earlier.

Jota was driving with his brother to Santander to catch a ferry to the UK. They had opted not to fly after Jota recently underwent lung surgery. The Liverpool forward had married his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, mother of their three young children, only weeks earlier.

Their funerals were held Saturday in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto, attended by Liverpool teammates and Portuguese internationals who paid their final respects.

The Spanish Civil Guard continues its investigation and is expected to submit its final report to a court in Puebla de Sanabria. They maintain that initial tests suggest Jota was driving, the car suffered a blowout while overtaking, and both brothers died when the vehicle struck the barrier and caught fire.

Meanwhile, Azevedo explained he only went public after online trolls accused him of ignoring the victims to chase “likes” with his viral video. “I thought twice about coming forward, but I know what I saw. I drive that road every day. It’s dark and dangerous. They weren’t speeding.”