DIOGO Jota’s widow has revealed the last message she sent to her husband before his fatal crash in a new biography about the football star.
Unaware he had crashed, Rute Cardoso wanted to send the former Liverpool and Wolves player their wedding video when he got a chance to pull over.
The 28-year-old footballer was killed in July last year after crashing his rented £180,000 Lamborghini Huracan on a Spanish motorway in the early hours of the morning.
Diogo had been driving with his brother Andre Silva towards Santander to catch a ferry to the UK following advice not to fly due to previous lung surgery.
Spanish police at the time said the crash was probably caused by speeding.
The official biography, written by former footballer Jose Manuel Delgado, is out on April 9 in Portugal.
It’s been titled ‘Nunca Mais e Muito Tempo’ – which translates to ‘Never Again Is a Long Time.’
Cultura Editors published the biography and have described it as a “deeply emotional and respectful work that pays tribute to the life and legacy of Diogo Jota, not only as an elite player, but also as a man.”
Discussing the book on Portuguese TV, presenter Isabel Figueira, said: “What shook me the most when reading an excerpt from the book is the way Rute narrates the last messages she sends him, which Diogo never receives.
“She says she had just received the wedding video and she says ‘Love, when you stop, call me, because I have something here to show you,’ and it was this video [of their wedding].”
Diogo and Rute were childhood sweethearts and had tied the knot at a church in Porto on June 22 last year, 13 years after they started dating and just 11 days before the crash.
Rute told Jose Manuel how she started calling the hotel near the crash scene where Diogo was due to stay that night when she became worried at his failure to respond.
In another excerpt from the book, highlighted by Portuguese magazine Flash, she says: “Unlike most players, who like flashy cars, jewellery and watches, Diogo was never into that scene.
“The vehicles we had were enough for him. Perhaps because he was never very interested in cars, he took the opportunity to have the experience of driving a Ferrari, which, in fact, he returned on the morning of our wedding.
“Afterwards, he would rent the Lamborghini.”
Rute has now moved back to Gondomar near Porto in Portugal with the couple’s children.
In the book, the brother’s parents, Joaquim and Isabel, also give emotional accounts about how they found out about the deaths of their two sons.
Joaquim said: “When I was going to bed, after staying in the living room for a while watching television, I received a phone call from Rute saying, in a distressed voice: ‘Come here, please.’
“I immediately had a bad feeling. The journey to her place was horrible. And on the way back home, already aware of the tragedy, it was even worse, the worst thing ever, the worst thing possible.
“I still don’t know, to this day, how I managed to endure it.”
Isabel added: “I sent a message to Andre asking how the trip was going. He didn’t reply; it was 11.23pm.
“I turned on the television and fell asleep, but not completely. There was something there waiting for the reply that never came.”
She also recounts the moment she learnt of her sons’ death: “[Joaqium] approached me, put his hands on my shoulders, and said: ‘It was both of them.’”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot, former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, Portugal manager Roberto Martinez and Manchester City stars Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, have also contributed to the new official biography.
In a statement shortly after the accident, the Civil Guard in Zamora said: “Everything is also pointing to a possible high excess of speed over the permitted speed on that stretch of the motorway.
“All the tests carried out for the moment point to the driver of the crash vehicle being Diogo Jota.
“As a result of the accident, the car caught fire and both occupants died.”
But locals living near the scene of the crash have criticised the state of the road.
The full police report is understood to have been handed in to a Spanish judge probing the accident, but court officials have previously said they will not make its contents public.
