The bodies of Diogo Jota and his brother were greeted by heartbroken supporters and applause as their coffins arrived at a church in Portugal ahead of their funeral.
Mourners will gather early this morning to pay their respects at a wake in Gondomar after Jota, 28, and his sibling died in a fiery crash in the early hours on Thursday.
Dozens were already standing outside at the church last night and tears rolled down their faces as the hearses transporting the two bodies arrived after 11pm.
Jose Manuel Macedo, the local parish priest, said the wake would take place at 8am at the nearby Capela de Ressurreicao before their funeral at the Igreja Matriz, the Catholic church next door, on Saturday morning at 10am.
‘We’re available to celebrate [their life] with everyone and to share the pain and the Christian hope,’ Macedo told CNN.
The tyre of Jota’s Lamborghini Huracan is said to have blown out while overtaking another vehicle on the A-52 at Cernadilla near Zamora, just ten miles over the border from Portugal. The supercar then came off the road, rolled and burst into flames.
The crash, which took place at around 12.35am, also ignited the surrounding vegetation. The emergency services were called but the brothers could not be saved. Police have said they do not know who had been behind the wheel.
Spanish government official Angel Blanco said the siblings died at the scene.
On Thursday afternoon, hearses were spotted arriving at a funeral home in the Spanish town of Puebla de Sanabria, where the bodies were taken after the incident.
Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes was pictured accompanying the player’s mother as they entered the funeral home, and he told reporters it was a ‘very difficult’ time.
‘We lost two great people. Diogo is an example as a person, husband, son, professional. I still can’t believe it, it’s very difficult,’ said Mendes, in tears.
The hearses later departed for Gondomar.
This morning’s wake will take place just a half-hour drive from Jota’s home city of Porto, northern Portugal – where just two weeks ago the 28-year-old married his childhood sweetheart Rute in a service packed with family and friends.
Jota and his brother Andre, 26, were reportedly on a road trip to Santander to catch a ferry to Britain after he was advised not to fly following lung surgery.
Liverpool are due to start pre-season training on Monday, so Jota was heading back to the UK on a road trip. A Brittany Ferries service from Santander to Plymouth left at 4pm on Thursday, arriving in Devon at 11.15am on Friday.
The football club said in a statement that they were ‘devastated’ by the tragedy and that Diogo’s family, friends and fans had suffered an ‘unimaginable loss‘. Flowers and tributes have been laid outside Anfield by supporters in tears.
Jota had just married the mother of his three children and partner since the age of 16. He had described himself as the luckiest man in the world to be her husband, sharing footage of their wedding day in his final Instagram post on Wednesday.
Rute shared more wedding day pictures in a social media post and said: ‘My dream come true.’ Jota then replied in the comments: ‘I’m the lucky one.’
The pair got together in 2013, it has been reported, and have three children together – two sons and a daughter who was born in November.
Jota was part of Liverpool’s Premier League-winning side in the 2024/25 campaign, scoring six goals in 26 appearances. He also played for Portugal’s national team and helped them win the Nations League last month.
His younger brother played for Penafiel, in the second tier of Portuguese football.
The Spanish civil guard said Jota was found dead at the scene alongside his brother.
‘The 1-1-2 Castilla y León operations room received several calls reporting a vehicle accident at Km. 65 of the A-52, in the municipality of Cernadilla, Zamora. A car was reported to have been involved in an accident and the vehicle was on fire,’ they said.
‘1-1-2 notified the Zamora Traffic Police, the Zamora Provincial Council Fire Brigade, and the Sacyl Emergency Coordination Center (CCU) of this accident.
‘From there, a Medical Emergency Unit (UME) and the Primary Care Medical Staff (MAP) from the Mombuey Health Center were sent, who confirmed the death of two people on the scene.’
The Portuguese national football team said they are ‘devastated’ by the death of Jota, adding he ‘was not only a fantastic player with almost 50 caps for the national team, but an extraordinary person who was respected by all his teammates and opponents’.
His death was confirmed by Pedro Proenca, head of the Portuguese Football Federation, who said in a statement: ‘The Portuguese Football Federation and all of Portuguese football are completely devastated by the deaths of Diogo Jota and André Silva, on Thursday morning, in Spain.
‘Much more than an amazing player, with almost 50 matches for the National A Team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all teammates and opponents, someone with an infectious joy and a reference in the community itself.
‘On my behalf, and on behalf of the Portuguese Football Federation, I express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Diogo and Andre Silva, as well as Liverpool FC and FC Penafiel, the clubs where, respectively, lined up the players.
‘The Portuguese Football Federation has already asked UEFA for a minute’s silence, this Thursday, before the match of our national team with Spain, in the women’s European Championship. Lost to two champs.
‘The disappearance of Diogo and Andre Silva represent irreparable losses for Portuguese football and we will do everything to, daily, honor their legacy’.
Jota joined Liverpool from Wolves in 2020 and won three major trophies with the Merseyside club – including the Premier League title last season.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Jota’s friend and teammate, said on Thursday: ‘It doesn’t make any sense. Just now we were together for the national team, you were just married.
‘To your family, to your wife and children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them.
‘RIP, Diogo and Andre. We will all miss you.’
Liverpool boss Arne Slot penned a touching tribute to Jota, vowing he will ‘never be forgotten’. He began: ‘What to say? What can anyone say at a time like this when the shock and the pain is so incredibly raw? I wish I had the words but I know I do not.
‘All I have are feelings that I know so many people will share about a person and a player we loved dearly and a family we care so much about.’
There were also tributes from the likes of Jurgen Klopp, who described Jota as his ‘great friend’, as well as team-mates Virgil van Dijk, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.
