Reason for Diogo Jota's late night car journey emerges after doctor's tragic advice
More details about the Liverpool FC star's shocking death have emerged
Jota has died at the age of 28 after he was involved a car accident in Spain
Diogo Jota was driving to catch a ferry to the UK when the vehicle he was travelling in careered off a road and burst into flames, it has emerged.
The Liverpool forward and his brother Andre Silva both died in the accident on the A52 in the Spanish province of Zamora in the early hours of Thursday morning. Spanish police confirmed that the Lamborghini the brothers were travelling in "left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking" at around 12.30am local time (11:30pm BST) and caught fire.
Jota - who won the Premier League title with Liverpool last season and the UEFA Nations League with Portugal less than a month ago - was just 28 years old, while his brother was 26.
More details around where Jota was travelling to at the time of the fatal crash have now emerged, with the former Wolverhampton Wanderers star believed to be heading to Santander to catch a ferry to the UK.
Liverpool are due to begin their pre-season training on Monday, and CNN Portugal have reported that Jota had chosen to travel back to the UK via ferry, having been warned against flying by medics after recently undergoing lung surgery.
"The surgery he had had was lung surgery and he had been advised against flying following this," said the channel's sports editor Rui Laura during a broadcast on Thursday.
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"He was on his way to the northern Spanish port city of Santander to cross the ferry and reach the UK that way and carry on with the car once he reached Britain. He was on his way to Liverpool with his brother."
Another Portuguese journalist, Victor Pinto, told CMTV: "Jota sometimes chose to travel by road because he had some pulmonary discomfort, nothing serious, and as we know, there is a ferry boat that connects the south of England to Spain's Cantabria region.
"The information we have is that he was going to take a ferry to Santander, so this means it wasn't exactly a road trip from England to Portugal. In this case, Jota would have made the ferry trip with his brother."
The A52 is a key route typically taken by drivers leaving northern Portugal as they head for the Spanish ports of Santander and Bilbao.
A statement from the Spanish Guardia Civil on Thursday read: "The information we have so far is that the car, which was a Lamborghini, was in a road traffic accident and left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking.
"It was in the early hours, 00:30 local time (23:30 BST), in the municipality of Cernadilla in the province of Zamora. The car caught on fire and the two occupants were killed."
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Liverpool also released a statement on Thursday, describing Jota's death as an "unimaginable loss".
It read: "Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota. The club have been informed the 28-year-old has passed away following a road traffic accident in Spain along with his brother, Andre.
"Liverpool FC will be making no further comment at this time and request the privacy of Diogo and Andre's family, friends, teammates and club staff is respected as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss. We will continue to provide them with our full support."
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Mourners to gather for Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota's wake in Portugal
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The Guardian
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The Independent
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