Diogo Jota & Brother Die in Tragic Accident

Diogo Jota: 04/12/1996 – 03/07/2025 – Rest In Peace

When you write about Liverpool, the vast majority of the time it is a pleasure to do so. The Reds have given so many of us so much joy over the years that it is an easy thing to invest time and energy talking about them. Sometimes, though, it is an awful thing to have to do and that has proven to be the case today.

Most of us will only have just begun our days when the news broke about Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva, began to be reported. The pair were involved in a road traffic accident in Spain, losing their lives when the car left the road after a tyre blowout.

What Happened?

Obviously the details are thin on the ground at this point, but local police in Spain are reporting that a tyre on the car that the two men were in blew out as they were overtaking another car. The police gave a statement on the matter and said, “The information we have so far is that the car, which was a Lamborghini, was in a road traffic accident and left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking. It was in the early hours, 00:30 local time, in the municipality of Cernadilla in the province of Zamora. The car caught on fire and the two occupants were killed.”

Obviously I never met Diogo Jota. But you sing somebody’s name week in, week out in the stands, you watch them do what they do, and you develop a relationship of a kind. At least with what they stand for there.

Diogo has given us so many moments of joy. It’s so so tragic.

His poor family.

— Julia Redhead (@messylines.bsky.social) 3 July 2025 at 10:18

Both Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva, were in the car and lost their lives as a result of the accident. The Liverpool forward got married to Rute Cardoso on the 22nd of June, announcing the nuptials on social media by posting a photo on Instagram showing the wedding with a caption saying ‘Yes, forever’. They have three children, two boys and a girl. The news was then confirmed by the Portuguese Football Federation, as well as Liverpool Football Club, with both talking of their sadness and the devastation at the incident. Portugal spoke of the player’s ‘infectious joy’.

Jota’s Liverpool Accomplishments

Diogo Jota began his playing career with Paços de Ferreira, becoming an Atlético Madrid player in 2016. He enjoyed loan periods with both Porto and Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining the latter on a permanent basis after helping the club gain promotion to the Premier League in 2018. He spent two years in the West Midlands, doing enough there to persuade Liverpool to sign him for around £41 million. Having arrived at the club, he went on to play 182 times for the Reds, scoring 65 goals over the five seasons that he spent at Anfield, some of them hugely important ones.

@cliptixor Diogo Jota last 5 goals for Liverpool, RIP #diogojota #liverpool #rip ♬ original sound – cliptixor

Known for his clinical finishing, Reds delighted in seeing him slalom through defences before sticking the ball in the bottom corner. When he went on one of his runs, it felt almost inevitable that the ball would end up in the back of the net and there was nothing that opposition goalkeepers could do to stop it. Although his time in a Red shirt was marred by injury, he was still a crucial component in a Liverpool team that won the League Cup, FA Cup and Premier League during his time there, as well as helping his national side win two UEFA Nations League titles in 2019 and 2025.

What Will the Reds Do Next?

When something like this happens, football obviously pales into insignificance. Yet the sad truth of the sport is that it is a business like any other, so Liverpool will need to think about what happens next. Clubs of the stature of the Reds will pay insurance premiums for their players and will almost certainly be able to claim on that, with money likely going to his family. The exact details will only be known to the people involved, but it will compensate the club for the loss of their ‘asset’, with the amount likely depending on the likes of how long was left on his contract and what his wages were.

In a purely footballing sense, Liverpool were already going to be thinking about their forward options this summer. The likelihood is that Darwin Núñez will depart if the Reds can get a decent price for him, whilst Federico Chiesa is also being linked with a move back to Italy. There was always a sense that Jota would become the club’s fifth-choice striker, depending on who was signed over the next couple of months. Now the likes of Richard Hughes will have to consider whether or not more than one signing will be needed in the wake of the tragic loss of the forward.

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