
Andy Robertson in heartbreaking tribute to Diogo Jota
A Liverpool statement on Thursday confirmed: "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."
Liverpool team-mate Robertson has since paid tribute on social media as he recalled happy memories with the Portugal internationalist he affectionately referred to as "Diogo MacJota".
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Robertson's emotional message, posted on his personal Instagram, read: "The ones I'm thinking about most right now are the family. Their loss is too much to bear. I'm so sorry that they have lost two such precious souls – Diogo and Andre.
"For the team and the Club, we'll try to cope with this together… however long that takes.
"For me, I want to talk about my mate. My buddy. The bloke I loved and will miss like crazy.
"I could talk about him as a player for hours, but none of that feels like it matters right now.
"It's the man. The person. He was such a good guy. The best. So genuine. Just normal and real.
"Full of love for the people he cared about. Full of fun.
"He was the most British foreign player I've ever met. We used to joke he was really Irish… I'd try to claim him as Scottish, obviously. I even called him Diogo MacJota.
"We'd watch the darts together, enjoy the horse racing. Going to Cheltenham this season was a highlight - one of the best we had.The last time I saw him was the happiest day of his life – his wedding day. I want to remember his never-ceasing smile from that magical day. How much he was bursting with love for his wife and family.
"I can't believe we're saying goodbye. It's too soon, and it hurts so much.
"But thank you for being in my life, mate – and for making it better.
"Love you, Diogo.❤️"

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Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Fans worldwide pay tribute to Diogo Jota after his tragic death as Liverpool supporters sing You'll Never Walk Alone outside Anfield and banner is displayed at Portugal's Women's Euros clash with Spain
Emotions ran high during Portugal's match against Spain at the Women's Euros on Thursday night - a game that took place just hours after Diogo Jota passed away at the age of 28. Jota was a fully-fledged international in the Portugal men's team, playing 49 times for his country, scoring 14 goals, and was a Nations League winner - the victory coming just a matter of weeks ago. The Liverpool star died on Thursday alongside his brother when his Lamborghini had a tyre blow out while overtaking another vehicle on the A-52 at Cernadilla near Zamora - just ten miles over the border from Portugal. The car is said to have rolled and burst into flames, with emergency services unable to save the footballing duo. Jota's brother, Andre Silva, 26, played for Portuguese second division side Penafiel. Jota and Silva were headed to Santander to catch a ferry to Britain after Diogo was advised not to fly following lung surgery, it was reported in his home country. And Portugal and Spain fans and players alike used the opportunity of their game on Thursday to pay tribute to the star, who leaves behind his new wife, Rute, and their three children. Tributes took place long before the game at the Stadion Wankforf in Bern, Switzerland, with fans chanting Jota's name and holding up signs outside the ground. Inside the ground, they continued to sing his name as countless banner and photos were produced paying tribute to the player. One group of fans were seen holding pieces of paper with the Portuguese's face and name on, while others held a banner. The banner read 'Obrigado por tudo,' which translates to 'thank you for everything', and 'descansa em paz,' meaning 'rest in peace.' After the game, which Spain won 5-0, the players merged to stand behind the banner themselves on the pitch. Beforehand, players engaged in an immaculate minute's silence and also wore commemorative black armbands. Throughout the day, back in Liverpool, fans gathered in their hundreds to lay and pay their own tributes to Jota. Jota played 182 games for Liverpool and was part of the Premier League title-winning squad from last season under Arne Slot. Slot, alongside the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson, paid their own tributes. One group of fans gathered to sing Liverpool's traditional 'You'll Never Walk Alone' song, aiming it at the forward, while another striking image showed two men - one in a Liverpool shirt and one an Everton shirt - walking with flowers to lay them down. Football fans gathered outside Anfield stadium and sang ''You'll Never Walk Alone', the club's anthem, in honour of Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash in Spain. — Sky News (@SkyNews) July 3, 2025 Some fans in the crowd at Switzerland donned signed with Jota's face on and sang his name Doctors had reportedly advised Jota not to catch a plane after a recent operation, so he was getting a boat back to England instead. A Brittany Ferries service from Santander to Plymouth left at 4pm BST on Thursday, arriving in Devon at 11.15am on Friday. According to Record, Jota and new wife Rute attended a friend's wedding over the weekend and had been celebrating together. 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. Diogo and Andre's deaths were then confirmed by the Portuguese Football Federation at around 8am. Wreckage at the scene suggested the brothers were driving to the UK in a Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder. Jota had married childhood sweetheart Rute a matter of days ago, having met her at school when the duo were children.


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Jota was that rare breed - a player you admired regardless of who you support
If you don't follow football but you're wondering why the torrent of tributes to Diogo Jota has been so relentless, here are some of the reasons. Yes, the Liverpool footballer was an outstanding, versatile player, arguably the best finisher in the English champions' squad on his day. Yes, he lifted everything there was to win during his five years at Anfield. And yes, he scored crucial goals last season to help them to win the title, including the winner - his last ever goal - in the Merseyside derby against Everton in April. But he was also low maintenance, high in the good energy that attracts kindred spirits and universal respect. He wasn't ever pictured falling out of nightclubs, engaging in unseemly Twitter/X controversies or involved in the pantomime, Baller League-type flare ups we see on Instagram. Jota, the man, was summed up by the pictures that have so dominated the news agenda over the past 24 hours. A family man, a devoted man, taken too soon when the car he was in with his younger brother, Andre Silva, came off the road in north-west Spain on Thursday night. They'd been driving through northern Spain to catch an overnight ferry to the UK for pre-season which had been due to start on Monday. Jota had been advised not to fly following lung surgery, according to reports in Portugal. But the Lamborghini the siblings were in was said to have blown a tyre while overtaking on the A-52 at Cernadilla near Zamora - just ten miles over the border. We continue to await confirmation of the full, tragic circumstances. But what we do know is that Jota was loved. He was cherished within his club and adored within his native Portugal. He was the kind of guy who played computer games in his spare time. A guy who was still paying to play for his local club Gondomar at the age of 16, an age when some talented players in England are already pushing for a place in Premier League teams. He was a footballer whose lack of malice, hostility and animosity during matches came as a refreshing antidote to so many of the tiresome antics we see at the elite level of domestic and European football. He was a father, a son, most recently a husband whose low key life away from the game was summed up by the fact that he was with his brother when the tragedy struck. It doesn't seem real to be talking about him in the past tense. Jota - aged 28. A man barely past the first few chapters of his life. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to suggest he was that rare breed - the kind of player you admired regardless of which team you support. An army of top clubs and their fans had admired Jota and the 17 goals he'd scored to help Wolves into the Premier League as champions before Liverpool gazumped them all to sign him, five years ago. How do the Premier League Champions now focus on football beyond this? How do they park their grief and get on the game again? It is a given that the game will wrap its collective arms around Jota's family. But if we as journalists and fans are rocked by his sudden heartbreaking loss, what about Jota's close friends and colleagues in that dressing room. What about his bosses even? Sadly, Liverpool have a history stretching back decades of dealing with the kind of trauma they simply should not have to bear. And the sadness of it all is in the timing. He was just 28. No age. In May, he'd celebrated winning the Premier League title with Liverpool, he posted pictures all over his socials. In June he helped Portugal to win the Nations League international tournament alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo. And less than two weeks ago he was married. Gorgeous pictures on his social media accounts of him with his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso and his three children. Now, in the blink of an eye, she is a widow. He has been taken away from them. Football comes very much second to the magnitude of the chasm left in the Jota family. It will never be filled. What we do know is that he will never be forgotten.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Diogo Jota: the sense of loss goes far and wide
Liverpool's Diogo Jota has died in a car accident in Spain. It is devastating news and still hard to get our head around. Jota was 28, a father of three young children and married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso less than two weeks ago. His younger brother André Silva, a footballer for Penafiel, also died in the crash. It is an unimaginable loss for their friends and family to process and we hope they get all the support and love they need. At Anfield, where Jota was adored by Liverpool fans for his goalscoring instinct, pace and combative dribbling style, the club flag is at half-mast and scarves, shirts and other tributes bearing the forward's name are still being left. Supporters spoke of their love for an 'adopted scouser' whose chant is among the most popular on the Kop. He was last seen at Anfield holding the Premier League trophy aloft as his name echoed around the ground – 'oh his name is Diogo'. Many of those fans, including the writer of this email, and people in the wider football community did not know Jota, but his actions on the pitch made them feel something. Footballers provoke emotion and talented and committed ones, such as Jota, do it often enough to form a connection. So the sense of loss goes far and wide. This has been evident in the range of tributes for Jota and his brother from Liverpool teammates, his former clubs, his Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, rival Premier League sides, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and Portugal's prime minister Luís Montenegro, who said Jota 'was an athlete who greatly honoured Portugal's name'. The Portuguese FA president Pedro Proença spoke of Jota's warm personality, something that seemed evident in post-match interviews when the forward would often be smiling broadly and looking delighted to be living out his dream: 'Much more than a fantastic player, who played almost 50 matches for the national A team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all his teammates and opponents, someone with an infectious joy and a reference in the community itself.' Jürgen Klopp said he was 'heartbroken' to lose 'a great friend … we will miss you so much!' Jota's career has been a decorated one. He won the Championship, the Premier League, the FA Cup and League Cup as well as playing in a Champions League final with Liverpool. And in his last match, for Portugal against Spain, he won the Nations League for a second time. But at only 28 he was at the peak of his powers and had much more to give. It is unendingly sad. His 65 goals in 182 Liverpool appearances seem remarkable considering he was unfortunate with injury layoffs. Fans were desperate to see more of him – as the song goes – cutting inside and scoring for LFC. His last Liverpool goal was Jota in a nutshell. It was a derby winner against Everton in April, in which he wriggled through a group of defenders before taking his shot so early it left everyone flat-footed. And off he went, celebrating in front of those fans who loved him. Those fans who felt that connection. Those fans who won't forget the memories he left behind and who, no doubt, will sing his name for years to come. RIP, Diogo and André. YNWA. 'It doesn't make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you had got married. To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo and André. We will all miss you' – Cristiano Ronaldo pays tribute to his international teammate Diogo Jota. From his time in Portugal's Primeira Liga right through to Nations League and Premier League glory, we look back at Diogo Jota's career. The death of Diogo Jota hits me hard as a Liverpool fan. It is salutary reminder that using a tragedy, any tragedy for a cheap gag is tasteless in the extreme. Football divides us sometimes, death should unite us' – Kev McCready. Please send your letters to There will be a moment of silence before both of the Euro 2025 matches in Switzerland. Join Emillia Hawkins from 5pm BST for MBM coverage of Belgium v Italy, with Barry Glendenning covering Spain v Portugal at 8pm. The Football Weekly Extra podcast is here for you. Finland are up and running at the Euros after beating Iceland 1-0 in the tournament opener, as are Norway, 2-1 victors over hosts Switzerland. 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