GONDOMARThe Liverpool forward’s family and friendsFollowing the death of the Portuguese soccer players in a car accident in Spain, Diogo Jota and his brother are meeting on Friday at a church where their bodies have been carried for a wake and funeral.
Before approaching the Capela da Ressurrei o S o Cosme, where the siblings’ funeral is scheduled for Saturday, some people hugged and sobbed.
Jota, 28, and his brother, Andr Silva, 25, were discovered dead close to Zamora in northwest Spain after their Lamborghini crashed and caught fire on a remote section of roadway shortly after midnight on Thursday.
Following the family’s identification, the bodies were returned to Portugal, according to Spanish government officials.
Jota began playing as a child in Gondomar, where he and his parents both reside. Jota was born in the working-class village of Gondomar, which is close to Porto.
While on vacation following a hard season in which he helped Liverpool win the Premier League, Jota passed away two weeks after he married his longtime partner, Rute Cardoso. The youngest of the couple’s three children was born last year.
The cause of the collision, which did not involve another car, is being looked into by Spanish police.
Silva, his brother, played in the lower leagues for the Portuguese team Penafiel.
As word of the catastrophe spread, condolences flooded in from soccer players and Portuguese officials.
Before Portugal’s match against Spain at the Women’s European Championship in Switzerland, there was a moment of silence, and Liverpool supporters placed flower wreaths and team scarves outside Anfield stadium.
In his hometown, the death was particularly felt at his first soccer club, where Jota began playing at the age of nine.
Anselmo Serra, the director of Gondomar SC, told The Associated Press, “He never forgot his roots or his friends because he had a group of friends who were with him in the training here in Gondomar and who he even invited occasionally to go and watch Liverpool games in England.” He never forgot them throughout the years; they were like a group of pals.
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Wilson reported from Spain’s Barcelona.
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https://apnews.com/hub/soccer AP soccer
