GONDOMAR, Portugal (AP) — Relatives and friends of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother gathered on Friday at a church where their bodies were brought for a wake and funeral, after the Portuguese footballers died in a car crash in Spain.
Some embraced and cried before entering the Capela da Ressurreição São Cosme, where the brothers’ funeral is planned for Saturday.
Jota, 28, and his 25-year-old brother, André Silva, were found dead near Zamora, in the northwest of Spain, after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of the road shortly after midnight on Thursday and caught fire.
Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family, Spanish government officials said.
Jota and his parents have homes in Gondomar, where he began his career as a player when he was a child. Gondomar is a working-class city near Porto, where Jota was born.
Jota’s death came two weeks after he married his longtime partner, Rute Cardoso, while vacationing after a long season in which he helped Liverpool win the Premier League title. The couple had three children, the youngest born last year.
Spanish police are investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve another vehicle, they said.
His brother André Silva was playing for the Portuguese club Penafiel in the lower divisions.
Condolences poured in from Portuguese officials and the football world as word of the crash spread.
Liverpool fans laid wreaths and team scarves outside Anfield, as a minute of silence was observed before Portugal faced Spain in the Women’s European Championship in Switzerland.
The loss was deeply felt in his hometown, especially at his first football club, where Jota began playing at the age of nine.
“He never forgot his roots, nor his friends, because he had a group of friends who were with him in training here in Gondomar and whom he even invited from time to time to come watch Liverpool matches in England,” said Anselmo Serra, director of Gondomar SC. “They were like a group of friends he never forgot over the years.”
