GONDOMARThe Liverpool forward’s family and friendsOne day after the Portuguese soccer players were killed in a car accident, Diogo Jota and his brother attended a wake at the chapel where their corpses were taken on Friday.
Before they entered the Capela da Ressurrei o S o Cosme, some people hugged and cried. Along with Jota’s agent, Jorge Mendes, the boys’ parents were present. Outside the chapel where the visitation took place, mourners placed candles and flowers next to a tree.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president of Portugal, also came to offer his respects.
The funeral for the siblings is scheduled for Saturday in the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church, which is adjacent to the chapel.
As he walked by, Ricardo Alves, a resident of Gondomar, bemoaned the passing of the local celebrity.
It is quite depressing. “I knew many of his friends from the area where he lived, and even though I didn’t know him personally, he was from here,” Alves added. He is a young man with a lot left to give, and his fate was fairly terrible, therefore it is a huge loss.
Just after midnight on Thursday, 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 highway.
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. They stated that they think a blown tire might have been the cause.
Silva, Jota’s brother, was a lower division player for the Portuguese team Penafiel.
In his hometown, the death was particularly felt at his first soccer club, where Jota began playing at the age of nine.
Gondomar SC director Anselmo Serra told The Associated Press that he never lost his friends or his roots because he had a group of buddies who trained with him here in Gondomar and who he occasionally invited to attend Liverpool games in England. He never forgot them throughout the years; they were like a group of pals.
Taking a boat to England
According to Portuguese media, Jota and his brother crashed while driving overnight to catch a boat from Santander, on the northern coast of Spain, to England to rejoin Liverpool.
Miguel Gon Alves claimed to be Jota’s physical therapist in a video interview with the Portuguese sports website Record. Jota was avoiding flying because of a lung problem that he had just addressed, Gon Alves informed Record.
According to Gon Alves, I was at his house at night for a final treatment. He was pleased with his recovery from his lung issue. Being with his brother made him joyful. On the vacation, they couldn’t wait to spend some time together.
The brother who was driving has not yet been identified by Spanish authorities.
Liverpool laments Jota
As word of the catastrophe spread, condolences flooded in from soccer players and Portuguese officials.
Before Portugal’s match against Spain in the Women’s European Championship in Switzerland late Thursday, there was a moment of silence.
Liverpool supporters placed scarves and flowers outside Anfield Stadium for a second day. Jordan Henderson, a former captain of Liverpool, was one of the people who placed a bouquet at the spontaneous Jota tribute.
Monday is when Liverpool’s players are expected to return from their summer vacation.
It would be challenging to rejoin the team without Jota, Mohamed Salah remarked on social media.
Coworkers come and go, but not in this manner. “When we return, it will be very hard to accept that Diogo won’t be there,” Salah wrote. I am thinking of his wife, his kids, and of course his parents, who lost their kids out of the blue. Diogo and his brother Andre’s loved ones need all the help they can get. They will always be remembered.
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Wilson reported from Spain’s Barcelona. Contributions were made by photojournalist Manu Fernandez in Gondomar and David Biller in Rome.
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