Thursday, July 3, 2025 - Liverpool star Diogo Jota has died at the age of 28 after his Lamborghini veered off a road in northern Spain - just two weeks after he married his childhood sweetheart.
The Portuguese forward was travelling in the supercar with
his younger brother Andre, 26, a fellow professional footballer who also died
in the crash in the early hours of this morning.
The tyre of the Lamborghini is said to have blown out while
overtaking on the A-52 at Cernadilla near Zamora in northwestern Spain,
close to the border with Portugal.
The supercar came off the road, rolled and then burst into
flames at around 12.35am, also igniting the surrounding vegetation. The
emergency services were called but the brothers could not be saved.
Police say they don't yet know who was driving.
Liverpool FC said in a statement that the club is 'devastated' by the tragedy and that Diogo's family, friends and fans had suffered an 'unimaginable loss'. Flowers and tributes are being laid outside Anfield today, with many fans in tears.
Jota had just married Rute Cardoso, the 28-year-old mother
of his three children and partner since the age of 16. He had described
himself as the luckiest man in the world to be her husband, sharing moving
footage of their wedding day in his final Instagram post on Wednesday
afternoon.
The couple married on June 22 in Porto, the footballer's home city. Rute shared more wedding day pictures in a social media post yesterday and said: 'My dream come true.' Jota replied in the comments: 'I'm the lucky one.'
The Lamborghini crash happened on the A-52 in the
province of Zamora. The Spanish dual carriageway is a key route taken by
drivers after leaving northern Portugal as they head for the ports of Santander
and Bilbao or drive north-east towards France.
Emergency services in the Castilla and Leon region confirmed
the crash and two fatalities at around 12.35am on Thursday morning. Diogo
and Andre's deaths were then confirmed by the Portuguese Football
Federation at around 8am.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Jota's friend and teammate and Portugal's
greatest player, said today: 'It doesn't make any sense. Just now we were
together for the national team, you were just married. To your family, to your
wife and children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the
world. I know you will always be with them. RIP. Diogo and Andre. We will all
miss you'.
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