Liverpool manager Arne Slot has given a heartfelt tribute to Reds star Diogo Jota following his death at the age of 28.
Jota, along with his brother Andre, 26, were pronounced dead on Thursday morning after a car crash that saw a tyre on his lamborghini blow out while he was overtaking another car.
The car is said to have rolled and burst into flames, with emergency services unable to save the footballing duo. Jota’s brother, Andre Silva, 26, played for Portuguese second division side Penafiel.
Jota and Silva were headed to Santander to catch a ferry to Britain after Diogo was advised not to fly following lung surgery, it was reported in his home country. Liverpool are due to start pre-season training on Tuesday, so Jota was heading back to the UK on a road trip with his brother less than two weeks after he married his childhood sweetheart Rute in his home city of Porto on June 22.
Slot’s Premier League champions set to report for training on July 8. Some of the players are still on holiday – and Jota is understood to have been on his way back to Liverpool when he crashed.
Now, amid a flurry of tributes from the football world, including from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and other Liverpool staff, Slot has issued some words of his own.
‘What to say? What can anyone say at a time like this when the shock and the pain is so incredibly raw?’ Slot began. ‘I wish I had the words but I know I do not.
‘All I have are feelings that I know so many people will share about a person and a player we loved dearly and a family we care so much about.
‘My first thoughts are not those of a football manager. They are of a father, a son, a brother and an uncle and they belong to the family of Diogo and Andre Silva who have experienced such an unimaginable loss.
‘My message to them is very clear – you will never walk alone. The players, the staff, the supporters of Liverpool Football Club are all with you and from what I have seen today, the same can be said of the wider family of football.
‘This is not solely a response to tragedy. It is also a reaction to the goodness of the people involved and the respect that so many have for the boys as individuals and for the family as a whole.’
Jota played 37 times for Slot in the Dutchman’s debut season at Anfield, scoring nine goals as Liverpool won their 20th top flight league title.
A number of other Liverpool-related figures have also shared words about the forward, including current Reds players Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz and former manager Jurgen Klopp.
Slot continued: ‘For us as a club, the sense of shock is absolute. Diogo was not just our player. He was a loved one to all of us. He was a teammate, a colleague, a workmate and in all of those roles he was very special.
‘I could say so much about what he brought to our team but the truth is everyone who watched Diogo play could see it. Hard work, desire, commitment, great quality, goals. The essence of what a Liverpool player should be.
‘There were also the parts that not everyone got to see. The person who never sought popularity but found it anyway. Not a friend to two people, a friend to everyone. Someone who made others feel good about themselves just by being with them. A person who cared deeply for his family.
Jota had just married Rute Cardoso, the 28-year-old mother of his three children and partner since the age of 16. He had described himself as the luckiest man in the world to be her husband, sharing moving footage of their wedding day in his final Instagram post on Wednesday afternoon.
The couple married on June 22 in Porto, the footballer’s home city. Rute shared more wedding day pictures in a social media post yesterday and said: ‘My dream come true.’ Jota replied in the comments: ‘I’m the lucky one.’
Slot added: ‘The last time we spoke, I congratulated Diogo on winning the Nations League and wished him luck for his forthcoming wedding. In many ways, it was a dream summer for Diogo and his family, which makes it all the more heartbreaking that it should end like this.
‘When I first came to the club, one of the first songs I got to know was the one that our fans sing for Diogo. I had not worked with him previously but I knew straight away that if the Liverpool supporters, who have seen so many great players over the years, had such a unique chant for Diogo, he must have special qualities.
‘That we have lost those qualities in such terrible circumstances is something we have not yet come to terms with. For this reason, we need everyone at the club to stand together and to be there for one another. We owe this to Diogo, to Andre Silva, to their wider family and to ourselves.
‘My condolences go to Diogo’s wife, Rute, their three beautiful children and to the parents of Diogo and Andre Silva.
‘When the time is right, we will celebrate Diogo Jota, we will remember his goals and we will sing his song. For the time being, we will remember him as a unique human being and mourn his loss. He will never be forgotten.
‘His name is Diogo.’
