Diogo Jota car crash: how a summer break turned into tragedy

Times

2 days ago

As he kissed his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso at the entrance to the Igreja da Lapa in Porto last month while confetti rained down on them, life could not have felt much sweeter for Diogo Jota.
The footballer had reached his professional zenith in the weeks prior, helping Liverpool to secure a coveted Premier League title then lifting the Nations League trophy with Portugal.
But the biggest prize of all was in his arms. Jota was standing in front of the Catholic church having just wed Cardoso in the Portuguese city where they first fell for each other as teenagers in 2012. Alongside pictures of the wedding posted on social media on Tuesday, Cardoso said: 'My dream came true.' Jota replied: 'But I am the lucky one.'
In the early hours of Thursday morning the couple's plans for the future came to a devastating end as a Lamborghini in which Jota was travelling with his brother, André Silva, crashed.
The supercar burst into flames in a ditch running alongside a motorway in northern Spain, killing both siblings, after a tyre blew while they were overtaking another vehicle.
Wedding to school sweetheart
In the hectic life of a modern professional footballer, time off is something of a rarity. But Jota had earned his summer break.
The diminutive forward helped Portugal clinch the Uefa Nations League title in Munich on June 8 after a final against their Iberian rivals Spain. When those victory celebrations came to an end, he soon travelled to his hometown Porto for an even bigger party.
Jota arrived in the city as the finishing touches were being made for his wedding to Cardoso, to whom he proposed in July 2022.
The footballer was born in Gondomar, a municipality on the eastern fringes of Porto, where his father and grandfather had been local amateur players. It was at Gondomar Secondary School that Jota first laid eyes on Cardoso and the spark was eventually lit during an encounter in the school library in 2012. 'I don't think anyone asked anyone out, it was natural,' Cardoso said in 2016.
As Jota's star in the football world steadily rose, Cardoso remained at his side, putting her marketing studies on hold when he signed for Atlético Madrid in 2016. 'I loved living in Spain and I loved being with Diogo 24 hours a day even more. Soon, we will return to live together here, in Portugal,' she said.
Those plans were once again put on hold as Jota made a career-defining move to England, playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers before his big-money move to Liverpool in 2020.
During their spell living in England, the couple had three children: Dinis, four, Duarte, two, and a baby girl, born in November last year.
Their wedding took place on June 22, first with a ceremony in central Porto, followed by a reception in front of the Obras do Fidalgo, the spectacular facade of an unfinished baroque noble house. The countryside venue 40 minutes to the east of Porto was transformed into a luxurious party venue, a large glass dome becoming a de factor nightclub as guests partied into the night.
Jota posted a video of the wedding day to his instagram page on Wednesday alongside the caption: 'A day we will never forget.' Text laid over the video read: 'This is the only day that you have been able to get together at the same time in the same place, your family, your friends, to celebrate what truly matters, which is love.'
The fatal crash
Due to report back to Liverpool for pre-season training on Monday, Jota spent the final days of his summer break with friends and loved ones.
He is said to have attended the wedding of the Wolves goalkeeper José Sá to Raquel Jacob, an actress, at a castle in the northern Portuguese city of Braga last Friday.
On Wednesday, Jota enjoyed one final meal with his wife and children in Leca da Palmeira, a coastal resort area just north of Porto, before setting off on his return to the UK. Jota, 28, was accompanied on the overnight drive by Silva, 25, a footballer with the second-tier Portuguese club Penafiel.
The Liverpool star had been advised against flying following minor lung surgery so was intending to take a ferry from the port city of Santander in northern Spain to Plymouth on Thursday. Disaster struck when the brothers were driving eastwards along the Rias Bajas highway (A52) in Spain just over the northwestern border with Portugal. The road has a speed limit of 120kmph (74mph).
While overtaking another vehicle at around 12:35am, the rear tyre of the car blew, causing the vehicle to lose control and crash into a roadside ditch, where it was engulfed in flames. It is unclear which brother was driving.
Dashcam footcam captured by another vehicle in the immediate aftermath showed tyre skidmarks on the road leading to the wreckage in flames.
Firefighters, paramedics and police rushed to the scene but could do nothing to save the two men. The vehicle's number plate is said to have been key to identifying them, given the extent of their injuries.
As the sun rose, the crumpled and burnt out wreckage could be seen on the roadside as several police officers looked on. Parts of the vehicle, including the remnants of a luminous green bumper, were strewn on the charred grass, while part of a roadside barrier was flattened.
The aftermath
News of the brothers' deaths was confirmed by the Portuguese Football Federation shortly after 9am on Thursday. As tributes poured in for Jota and his brother, their relatives made the bleak journey to Zamora, a city and province in northwestern Spain where the siblings' remains were taken following the crash.
Family members including Cardoso were seen comforting each other outside Zamora's Institute of Forensic Medicine on Thursday afternoon. The brothers' bodies were later taken to a nearby funeral parlour in two hearses and will later be repatriated.
Angel Blanco, a central government representative for the province of Zamora, said forensic experts had sought to obtain fingerprints during the autopsy as well as carrying out DNA tests. He said the results would be sent to a specialist lab in Madrid for analysis so that legal confirmation of the men's identities could be obtained.