Diogo Jota: Liverpool and Jamie Carragher lead tributes after star dies in car crash
Jota was in the car with his brother, Andre Silva, a footballer for FC Penafiel in Portugal, who also died. No other vehicles were involved, Spanish authorities said.
Advertisement
Jota, 28, recently won the Premier League title with Liverpool as well as the Nations League with Portugal. He married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso a few weeks ago, with whom he had three children.
(Getty Images)
In a statement, Liverpool Football Club said it is 'devastated' by the 'tragic' news of Jota's death. '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 said.
'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.'
Advertisement
The English Football Association said: 'We are devastated to learn of the passing of Diogo Jota. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with Diogo's family, friends and team-mates at Liverpool and Portugal.'
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher posted on X: 'Devastating news about Diogo Jota and his brother Andre this morning. Thoughts are with everyone of their family and friends, especially his wife Rute and their three lovely kids.'
Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender, also posted on X. 'That is heartbreaking news on Diogo Jota and his brother. All my love and best wishes to his family.'
Advertisement
Former club Wolves, meanwhile, said they were 'heartbroken' by the news.
'Diogo was adored by our fans, loved by his teammates and cherished by everyone who worked with him during his time at Wolves,' the club said. 'The memories he created will never be forgotten. Our hearts go out to the family, friends and loved ones of Diogo and his brother, Andre. You will be truly missed, and always remembered.'
Diogo Jota scored 44 goals in 131 games for Wolves before joining Liverpool (Getty Images)
Jota's former Wolves team-mate and Portugal international Ruben Neves said: 'They say that we only lose people when we forget them. I will never forget you."
Premier League teams, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton, all sent messages of support to Liverpool after the club confirmed the news on Thursday morning. Manchester City posted a photo of Jota with Portugal team-mate Bernardo Silva as part of their tribute.
Advertisement
'Everyone at Manchester City is shocked and saddened to learn about the devastating news regarding the passing of Diogo Jota. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends and everyone at Liverpool Football Club at this difficult time. Rest in peace, Diogo.'
And the Premier League said 'football has lost a champion who will be forever missed' and said it would be supporting 'our friends and colleagues' at Liverpool.
'Everyone at the Premier League is shocked and devastated to learn of the tragic passing of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre. Our sincerest condolences go to Diogo's family, friends, Liverpool FC, and all their supporters at this heartbreaking time.'
Advertisement
Meanwhile the Portuguese prime minister, Luís Montenegro, paid tribute to Jota in a post on X, saying: 'The news of the death of Diogo Jota, an athlete who greatly honored Portugal's name, and his brother is unexpected and tragic. I extend my deepest condolences to their family. It is a sad day for football and for national and international sports."
Uefa confirmed that a moment of silence in memory of Jota and Andre Silva will be observed at all Women's Euro 2025 matches on Wednesday and Thursday, including Portugal's opening match against Spain in Bern on Wednesday night. The Portugal players will also wear black armbands.
The Portuguese Football Federation added: 'The Portuguese Football Federation and the entire Portuguese football community are devastated by the deaths of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva in Spain this morning.
(X/@FCPorto)
'Diogo Jota was not only a fantastic player with almost 50 caps for the national team, but also an extraordinary person who was respected by all his teammates and opponents. He had a contagious joy and was a reference point in his own community.
Advertisement
'On behalf of the Portuguese Football Federation and myself, I would like to offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of Diogo and Andre, as well as Liverpool FC and FC Penafiel, the respective clubs of the players.
'We have lost two champions. Their deaths represent irreparable losses for Portuguese football, and we will do everything we can to honour their legacy every day.'
Portuguese clubs FC Porto and Sporting also paid tribute. Jota played on loan with Porto earlier in his career and the club said it is in 'mourning'.
(Reuters)
'It is with shock and deep sorrow that we send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, who was also our athlete in the youth ranks,' Porto said.
Advertisement
Rivals Sporting added: 'The world of football has become poorer. Sporting CP expresses its sorrow for the passing of the Portuguese international Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva. The most heartfelt condolences to all the family in this difficult time.'
Uefa said: 'On behalf of the European football community, we are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Diogo Jota, Portugal international and Liverpool FC forward, along with his brother André Silva. Our thoughts are with their family, friends, teammates and all those affected by this heartbreaking loss.
'A moment of silence will be observed at all of today's and tomorrow's Women's Euro 2025 matches in memory of Portugal international and Liverpool FC forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva who tragically passed away today.'
Advertisement
Speaking In the House of Commons, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy: 'We just received the heartbreaking news a moment ago before we came in to the chamber that [Diogo Jota] lost his life at just 28 years of age. I wanted to send our sympathies to his family on behalf of the whole House.'
More follows
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
Euro 2025 roundup: Spain's dominance, too hot to play and key set pieces for underdogs
Four days into Euro 2025, we've seen every side in action once. Keeping track of 24 matches across 12 days is a daunting task. The Athletic's Michael Cox watched every match to bring you the moments you may have missed. In a slow-burning but eventually enjoyable opening round of the competition, there have been eight victories and no draws thus far. Here are some early patterns. Advertisement Tournaments aren't won on the strength of performances in the first round of group matches. But on the evidence so far, Spain are on a different planet from the other 15 teams in the competition. Starting at a remarkably high tempo against Portugal, they were ahead inside three minutes, 4-0 up by half-time, and pretty much killed the game after that. Ultimately, 5-0 was a fair reflection of their dominance. Amongst their star performers were the authoritative holding midfielder Patri Guijarro, the elusive Claudia Pina and the quick-footed Vicky Lopez, all familiar to anyone with even a passing knowledge of Barcelona. But it's significant that none of that trio played in Spain's triumph at World Cup 2023. So while it was the same old Spain with silky possession play, it was also a side with even more quality in attacking positions, and a newfound desire to go long, as two of their balls came from lofted passes over the opposition. We're yet to see their backline tested properly, but this was a terrifyingly good attacking performance. Much of the focus at the men's Club World Cup has been on the heat. Across the Atlantic at Euro 2025, temperatures in Switzerland are less extreme, but still testing. And it's clearly affected the matches. This has been a particular problem with the games played at 6pm local time, which have been extremely sluggish. There has been a notably high number of players suffering from cramp, often at a relatively early stage. Two of the four 6pm games were 0-0 at half-time. The other two featured openers in the 44th and 45th minutes. The opening match between Finland and Iceland was incredibly standoffish, with neither side looking to close down in the opposition's half at all. That's partly simply a tactical thing — both sides naturally sit deep — but the conditions seemed to dissuade any kind of positional bravery. Italy's 1-0 win over Belgium in the second 6pm kickoff was similarly slow, with Belgium attacker Hannah Eurlings explaining how the conditions affected her side. 'We had more possession and created better chances, but maybe the big, big chances didn't materialise today. It may be because of the weather,' she said. 'Normally, we're good on counters, but it was hard with every ball we won.' Sweden's 1-0 win over Denmark was more open, but it's worth noting the majority of the pitch in Geneva was in shade. It's rare to see the warm weather blamed for a lack of countering, rather than a lot of pressing, but it's also understandable. The players didn't have the capacity to sprint. Some other players have been reluctant to blame the conditions publicly, but have acknowledged it's been an issue. Advertisement The most obvious summary of the situation is the goal tally. There were six goals from the four 6pm matches, and 13 goals from the 9pm matches. Thankfully, there are only four more 6pm kickoffs. Thereafter, everything is at 9pm, and the action should be all the better for it. There are only a few sides truly capable of winning matches with sparkling football. The way for the outsiders to narrow the gap is, in part, through set pieces. But, by and large, the set-piece delivery in the competition so far has been underwhelming. It was a particular issue for Belgium in their defeat to Italy. Belgium consistently had corners or free kicks and a chance to test an Italian backline who struggled in this sense at World Cup 2023, but Tessa Wullaert's ball was overhit and the chance was wasted. At that World Cup, there was an obvious trend of sides playing inswinging corners to great effect, and when balls have been put into the box here, they've generally been that type of delivery. But there's also been a curious tendency to play short corners. Some of these, like an early one in that aforementioned Italy game, prompted a wayward return pass that went out for a goal kick. England played a dreadful short corner in their loss to France. There is some logic to short corners, but there's also a great deal to be said for inswinging corners in the women's game, where goalkeepers often struggle to deal with high balls under the bar. Ada Hegerberg's thumping equaliser for Norway against hosts Switzerland was a good advert for getting it in the mixer, and getting your best striker on the end of the cross. In terms of formation, there's been considerably more variety than at Euro 2022. In their opening games, six sides — Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Wales — used a back three. That's quite a contrast from three years ago, when only two sides, Denmark and Northern Ireland, used the system regularly, while Sweden started the tournament with a 3-4-3 before reverting to their usual 4-2-3-1. Advertisement Granted, the majority of those sides, particularly Portugal and Wales, have used the approach as a primarily defensive strategy, simply packing defence and guarding against being exposed by switches from flank to flank. But at times, the wing-backs have found great space pushing forward, and these sides have tended to play out well from defence — helped by a lack of opposition pressing. Denmark are always adept at their wide centre-backs bringing the ball forward, while Italy started to turn the screw in their 1-0 win over Belgium when Elena Linari and Martina Lenzini realised they had space to carry the ball forward. There's more to a tactical battle than formations, but the game feels more strategically advanced than three years ago. Jennifer Falk, Sweden: We're yet to see a truly outstanding goalkeeping performance thus far, but Falk was solid in Sweden's 1-0 win over Denmark. The undisputed No 1 due to Zecira Musovic's pregnancy, she is regarded as better than Musovic with the ball at her feet, but played a higher percentage of her passes long than any other goalkeeper in the tournament thus far. Emma Koivisto, Finland: She constantly stormed forward well from right-back, and also produced two crucial blocks, including a genuinely superb piece of defending at the far post, one by simply getting her face in the way of a goalbound shot. Dominique Janssen, Netherlands: Perhaps not overly stretched by Wales, but her distribution with both feet and her speed to sweep up at the back was precisely what was required in a high, proactive Dutch defensive line. Tuva Hansen, Norway: She made a crucial late block at the end of a good performance. In an otherwise porous Norway side, she'll need more starring performances like this one. Nadine Riesen, Switzerland: The Swiss dominated the opening half hour of their clash against Norway, with wing-back Riesen enjoying huge freedom down the left, and also popping up with the opener. Advertisement Patri Guijarro, Spain: She can probably still be regarded as an unsung hero in relation to Aitana Bonmati and Alexis Putellas, but she's surely the best holding midfielder in Europe. Filippa Angeldahl, Sweden: Her driving midfield runs will define Sweden's play this summer. She went close with a trademark powerful free kick, then played a neat one-two with Kosovare Asllani for the winner. Arianna Caruso, Italy: She was involved in almost all of Italy's best moments, bustling her way through midfield, and also scored a fine winner with a clever shot inside the near post. Delphine Cascarino, France: Both France's wingers were electric in the 2-1 win over England. Cascarino repeatedly beat Jess Carter, usually a one-against-one specialist, and gave England two warning signs before setting up the opener for Marie-Antoinette Katoto. Vicky Lopez, Spain: Various Spanish attackers could have got the nod, but Lopez's trickery in tight situations marked her out as Spain's best performer in their opener — one piece of skill to create a chance for Alexis Putellas was majestic. Katariina Kosola, Finland: The biggest threat throughout the game against Iceland from the left wing, she was the deserved matchwinner with a lovely curler. (Top Photo: Eddie Keogh / Getty Images)
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Liverpool and Everton's relationship is stronger than ever
Liverpool and Everton are historic rivals, splitting the population of the city and the surrounding areas into two camps. The pair of clubs have one of the best derbies in the football calendar. At times things can get feisty, such as what unfolded at Goodison Park's last derby matches last season, when a 2-2 draw resulted from the contest which included a controversial equaliser. Advertisement Hatred between the two fanbases is probably too harsh a term, but there is certainly dislike and those on each side have at the very least a dislike towards the other, and a desire to win at all costs. But at the heart of the beautiful game is mutual respect for each other's efforts on the pitch and no one would ever wise harm on the other. There is a line that cannot be crossed and that is it. So while genuine common decency should be expected from anyone, we cannot ignore how incredibly kind Everton Football Club have been regarding the Diogo Jota situation recently. Club officials made their way to Anfield on Friday to place flowers down at a temporary memorial site for the late Portuguese striker and they spent time paying their respects to him. In distressing times of tragedy, rivalries go out of the window and everyone must stick together. Advertisement Regardless of your affiliation, the lives of two human beings were lost this week, and they must be celebrated for what they were - fierce competitors who gave their all in a respectful manner. One Everton fan was pictured making their way to Anfield in a Blue shirt, and to some it suggested point scoring as if someone from the other side of the city deserved praise for putting allegiances aside to celebrate Jota's life. Of course, the act would have been no less kind if they were to have worn a more neutral colour, but still the sentiment of the decision to pay their respects remains. So by no means am I suggesting we should claim that Everton have done anything extraordinary, but it is particularly nice to see two clubs that are normally directly against each other, begin able to support one another in a time of need, showing empathy and kindness to each other. In truth, it has always been this way. If another team is celebrating a former player's life, then the Reds will never shy away from doing the right thing and joining in. But that isn't always a given in modern society, when you've got divisive political issues on what should be basic things. Advertisement Racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia still exists across the world despite our best wishes. So I think it's fair to say that Everton deserve credit for doing the right thing, even if it was expected. The relationship between the two clubs is a strong and incredibly respectful one. Jota's last goal for Liverpool was in the derby match at Anfield last season and it was pivotal to our Premier League title hopes. In spite of that, there is no ill will between either club or with the player. In true competitive spirit, each side gives their all to win and off the field, you accept that you gave it your best shot, you leave any issues on the field and you respect your opponent for their efforts. Advertisement Liverpool and Everton may have a rivalry, but there's a time and a place for it.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Real Madrid Can Help FC Barcelona Star Lamine Yamal In This Way
FC Barcelona's bitter rival Real Madrid can inadvertently help the Catalans' wonderkid Lamine Yamal ... More in the coming days, as pointed out by SPORT. Bitter rival Real Madrid can inadvertently help FC Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal in the coming days, as pointed out by SPORT. After already scooping the Golden Boy award and the Kopa Trophy, the Barca wonderkid is currently considered one of the favourites for soccer's highest individual accolade for a male player, the Ballon d'Or. As always, however, he isn't running a one-horse race for the gong though his exploits in a domestic treble-winning season for his boyhood club in 2024/2025 certainly put Lamine on a strong footing. Coincidentally, his main rival is considered to be the player whose right wing berth he inherited at FC Barcelona and set up to almost score in Lamine's debut as a 15-year-old against Real Betis in the spring of 2023. In summer of that year, Ousmane Dembele marched to Paris Saint-Germain from Catalonia and has come on leaps and bounds under Luis Enrique. The ambidextrous winger has similarly won all three of the major trophies on offer in France this term, in addition to the Champions League. Lamine ended his and Frances chances of winning the Nations League in the semifinals before Spain then lost to Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the final, but Madrid can help Lamine in his quest to become the youngest ever Ballon d'Or holder after a 21-year-old Brazilian Ronaldo Nazario took it home in 1997. In short, it is perhaps by Madrid beating PSG in the Club World Cup semifinals next week that Dembele could be denied once the star-studded France Football ceremony to hand out the prestigious prize roles around in Paris on September 22nd. Ultimately, the winner of the Ballon d'Or is decided by a selected panel of journalists and people in football, and it depends on how they view the battle between Lamine and Dembele. PSG Chairman has no doubt FC Barcelona starlet Lamine should be denied According to PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, there is no doubt that his winger and not FC Barcelona ace Lamine should win the Ballon d'Or. 'If Ousmane Dembele doesn't win the Ballon d'Or, there's a problem,' he said, ahead of PSG's win over Bayern Munich at the Club World Cup. 'Given the magnificent season he has had, there is no doubt that he will win the Ballon d'Or… If he doesn't win, there's a problem. He has done everything.'
