By Freddie Clayton, freelance journalist based in London.
@GettyImages.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and several teammates gathered in Portugal on Saturday to attend the funeral Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, following the tragic car crash that claimed both their lives.
The two brothers died early Thursday morning in a crash in Spain’s Zamora province, when the Lamborghini they were traveling in veered off the road.
Jota, 28, had recently celebrated some of the happiest weeks of his life, having married his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, only 11 days earlier. The couple had three young children.
The funeral was held at Igreja Matriz de Gondomar in the brothers’ hometown of Gondomar, just outside Porto. The church bells tolled, and friends and family wept as they trailed behind the coffins being carried into the church.
Jota’s sudden passing has sent shockwaves through the football world, where the loss of a player in the prime of his career is a rare and heartbreaking tragedy.
Van Dijk carried a floral tribute in the shape of a red shirt with Jota’s number 20 written in white flowers. Jota’s teammate Andy Robertson, who last saw Jota at his wedding, was carrying a matching tribute of roses for Silva — also a professional footballer — with the number 30.
Club manager Arne Slot and Portugal manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance, alongside a number of Jota’s teammates from Liverpool and the national side.
In Jota’s final match for Liverpool in May, he helped secure the club’s historic 20th English league title. One month ago, Jota had helped Portugal win the 2025 Nations League tournament.
Outside the church, hundreds gathered to pay their respects, laying flowers and holding one another in grief. At the same time, one thousand miles away at Liverpool’s stadium, Anfield, fans gathered by a sea of scarves, flowers, balloons, and handwritten notes outside that formed a shrine for Jota and his brother.
Ahead of the funeral, tributes to the two brothers poured in from around the world.
At Chelsea’s Club World Cup match against Palmeiras on Friday night, Portugal teammate Pedro Neto walked onto the pitch holding a Chelsea shirt bearing the names Diogo and André.
Neto, visibly emotional, fought back tears as the crowd fell silent inside Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
That same evening, legendary rock band Oasis paid a moving tribute during the opening night of their reunion tour in Cardiff, Wales. As they played the iconic outro to 1994 song “Live Forever,” a giant image of Jota’s No. 20 Liverpool shirt appeared on screen, sparking a wave of applause from the 75,000-strong crowd.
Born in 1996, Diogo José Teixeira da Silva — known to the world as Diogo Jota — was a gifted player who made 182 appearances and scored 65 goals for Liverpool. He was a key figure in their title-winning 2024–25 campaign and represented Portugal 49 times on the international stage.
“We have lost two champions. The passing of Diogo and André Silva represents irreparable losses for Portuguese Football, and we will do everything to honor their legacy daily,” the Portuguese national team’s statement said.
Cristiano Ronaldo, a teammate of Jota’s in the national side, said on Instagram: “Doesn’t make any sense. Just now we were together in the National Team, just now you were married.”
The Spanish authorities said their car left the road due to a tire blowout while overtaking another vehicle. A Spanish government source told the PA news agency that the crash was being investigated as a “possible speeding incident.”
Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family, Spanish government officials said.