The 28-year-old Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota, who played for Liverpool, died at around 12:30 p.m. in a traffic accident in Zamora, after his vehicle left the road and caught fire. The footballer was traveling in the car with his brother, who also died in the accident.
Football mourns the death of Diogo Jota
The world of football is in mourning following the death of Diogo Jota, Portuguese player for Liverpool. In the early hours of Thursday morning, at around 12:30 a.m., 112 received calls from several witnesses alerting them that a vehicle had left the road and started to burn. Emergency services were dispatched to the scene, but were unable to save the lives of the two people inside the vehicle.
The Portuguese player was traveling in the vehicle with his brother when it left the road. At this time, the causes of the accident that claimed the lives of the soccer player and a second person traveling with him are unknown, and everything points to the second victim being his brother, Andre, a soccer player for Peñafiel.
The footballer, who was crowned with the Portuguese national team in the Nations League final against Spain, had just gotten married on June 22 and had three children.
Diogo Jota had established himself at Liverpool
After being one of the great promises of Portuguese soccer, Diogo Jota sought his place throughout his sporting career. He began his training at Paços de Ferreira, making his debut in 2014 with the first team. His great performances took him straight to Spanish football, to Atlético Madrid, where he failed to settle and did not play any official matches, so he returned to Portugal, this time to Porto. He then made the leap to English football, to Wolverhampton, where he finally began to show his talent, which led him to sign for Liverpool in the summer of 2020, consolidating his place among the elite of professional football.
Serious accident involving Diogo Jota
Little information has emerged about the causes of the accident involving the Portuguese player, who was traveling in a vehicle with his brother when they were driving along kilometer 65 of the A-52 in the municipality of Cernadilla. At around 12:30 a.m., the vehicle left the road, for reasons that have not yet been confirmed, and began to burn. Some witnesses claim that one of the tires on his Lamborghini burst as he was attempting to overtake another vehicle, which could have been the cause of the accident, although this information has not been confirmed at this time. This would have caused the vehicle to veer off the road and catch fire, ultimately resulting in fatalities.
The Castilla y León emergency services received several calls from witnesses who had seen the accident and others who reported seeing flames coming from the vehicle. The Civil Guard, firefighters from the Zamora provincial council, and emergency services arrived at the scene very quickly. However, they were unable to do anything for the Liverpool footballer or his brother, other than confirm their deaths.
The news shook the football world in a matter of minutes once the tragedy was made public. The footballer was on vacation just a few weeks before the start of a new season with the English club. The personal aspect is even more tragic, as he was only 28 years old and had just gotten married on June 22 to the mother of his three children.