Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota was on a 10-hour drive when he died in car crash — because he wasn't allowed to fly
The 28-year-old Portuguese forward had been heading from Portugal back to the UK to kick off pre-season training when his Lamborghini veered off a road in Zamora, Spain, Thursday night, the BBC reported.
Jota had been traveling with his brother, Andre Silva, from Porto, Portugal, to Santander, Spain, where there's a ferry route to Portsmouth, England, when tragedy struck, the outlet reported. It's unclear who was driving.
4 Diogo Jota controls the ball during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg football match between Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) and Liverpool (ENG) at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on March 5, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
The soccer star had opted to take the longer route because he'd been advised by doctors not to get on a plane while recovering from a minor lung-related surgery, according to Telegraph Sport.
The Lamborghini's tire appeared to have burst as it was 'overtaking' another vehicle and both men died when the car veered off the road and burst into flames, according to investigators. The deadly crash happened along an isolated stretch of highway near the Portuguese border.
4 Jota had opted to take the longer route because he'd been advised by doctors not to get on a plane.
OceanProd – stock.adobe.com
4 General view of the crash site where Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva lost their lives, showing the wreckage of the Lamborghini Huracan at kilometre 65 of the A-52, near the town of Cernadilla, close to Zamora, Spain.
Getty Images
The Premier League winner married the mother of his three children, Rute Cardoso, two weeks before the crash.
Meanwhile, disturbing images of the soccer player's burned and mangled Lamborghini on the side of a road emerged Friday, according to the Spanish media outlets.
Fans and fellow players were devastated by his untimely death.
4 The car crash occurred just after midnight on July 3, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
'Doesn't make any sense,' soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo wrote on Instagram Friday.
'Just now we were together in the National Team, just now you were married.'
The bodies of the two brothers were taken to a forensics unit in Zamora, where autopsies will be performed, police said.
The funeral is expected to be Saturday in Porto, Portugal.
With Post wires
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