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.
The football world came together to pay tribute to Diogo Jota after his tragic death on Thursday
Portugal’s women’s team played Spain in the European Championship and fans paid tribute
A banner that read ‘thank you for everything, rest in peace’ in Portuguese was on display in the crowd and players stood with it after the game
Jota had married his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso, the mother of his three children, just days before his fatal car crash
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.
Some fans in the crowd at Switzerland donned signed with Jota’s face on and sang his name
A minute’s silence was also carried out before kick-off, just hours after Jota’s tragic death
Back at Anfield, supporters gathered to pay tribute, singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and Jota’s own song too
Portugal players looked on as they remembered a man who played 49 times for the men’s team
One striking image saw two men – one in a Liverpool shirt and one Everton – walk up the road carrying flowers
Hundreds of fans laid flowers and scarves outside Liverpool’s home stadium on Thursday
Some fans left balloons as the football world mourned the loss of the Premier League star
Others chose to leave messages – one fan wrote on a scarf: ‘We will make sure your kids know how much you were cherished
Jota and childhood sweetheart Rute had three children – the youngest born late on last year
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.
