Diogo Jota's tragic death leaves Liverpool and Portugal heartbroken as football unites

There is a famous quote attributed to legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. Discussing his devotion to football on Granada TV's afternoon chat show Live at Two in 1981, he told presenter Shelley Rohde: “Somebody said that football’s a matter of life and death to you, I said ‘listen, it’s more important than that’.”

The quote was not meant literally and the tragic death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Siva in a car crash in Spain this week is a reminder that football is not as important as all that. But the outpouring of love and affection for Jota, clearly one of the game’s good guys, also shows us just how much the sport can unite in times of tragedy.

Liverpool’s fans know all about that, having endured and fought for justice across several decades following the Hillsborough distaster in 1989, which saw 97 supporters lose their lives and hundreds more injured after being crushed against the fences at one end of the ground during an FA Cup semi-final game against Nottingham Forest.

Jota and his younger brother passed away at around 00:30 on Thursday after a tyre blew on the forward’s Lamborghini during an overtaking move and the car caught on fire. Images of the vehicle’s burned-out shell, which won’t be posted here, show a charred wreck by the time the flames had been put out by firefighters.

While full details of the accident are yet to emerge, the tragic death of these two young men surely highlights the dangers of sports cars on poor road surfaces in intense heat and is one of a series of incidents involving footballers in Spain over the years: Real Madrid legend Juanito lost his life in an accident close to Toledo in April 1992; ex Madrid and England attacker Laurie Cunningham died in a car crash in Madrid in July 1989; and former Arsenal, Atlético, Real and Sevilla winger José Antonio Reyes passed away along with his cousin as his Mercedes veered off the road at high speed in Andalucía in June 2019.

Jota grew up in the Gondomar district of Porto and signed for Wolves in 2018 after impressing at Porto, where he was playing on loan from Atlético Madrid. He joined Liverpool in September 2020 and went on to become a fan favourite with the Reds, scoring 65 goals in 182 appearances for the Reds and earning his own special song from those supporters.

                 "Oh, he wears the number 20, he will take us to victory, and when he’s running down the left wing, he’ll cut inside and score for LFC. He’s a lad from Portugal, better than Figo don’t you know, oh, his name is Diogo!”

In the final weeks of his life, Jota became a Premier League winner with Liverpool, helped Portugal claim the UEFA Nations League title in what would be his last-ever appearance as a professional player and married his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso in a beautiful ceremony in late June.

In the pictures posted on social media alongside their three young children, the pair wrote: “22nd of June, 2025. Yes. Forever.” But 11 days later, he was gone, and a young family tragically torn apart. People die in terrible circumstances across the world every day, but it is hard to recall a recent example of an elite footballer losing his life in his prime years. Jota was just 28 and his brother even younger, aged only 25.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot described Jota as a “unique human being” who “cared deeply for his family” and asked fans to take care of each other as they process his loss. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah said he had been left “frightened” by his team-mate’s death and added that it was “extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won’t be there when we go back” to training ahead of the 2025-26 season.

The Reds have said that Jota’s no. 20 shirt will be “rightly immortalised”, suggesting it may be retired from use, while Portugal fans sang the player’s song in the 20th minute of their women’s Euro 2025 opener against Spain on Thursday.

Madrid fans still sing Juanito’s name in the seventh minute of every home game at the Santiago Bernabéu, over 30 years after his death. And Liverpool fans, who have flocked to Anfield in their thousands to lay flowers and tributes since the news broke, seem likely to honour Jota in the same way. It would be a fitting tribute.

But more important than all of that are the loved ones of Jota and his brother, who played for Portuguese second-tier side Penafiel. In his post on social media, Cristiano Ronaldo wished the family “all the strength in the world” and Slot said: “My message to them is very clear – you will never walk alone.”

Jota’s Portugal team-mates Rúben Neves and João Cancelo broke down in tears during a minute’s silence ahead of Al-Hilal’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Fluminense on Friday. Earlier, Neves had paid a heartfelt tribute to his friend on social media. “I'm going to make sure you’re always present and I’ll make sure that your loved ones never lack anything while you’re there, far away but thinking of us, waiting for us. Life has brought us together and now it can't tear us apart,” he wrote.

For the brothers’ bereaved family – especially the pair’s parents, plus Jota’s wife and three young children –, for friends, followers of Portuguese football, Liverpool, Penafiel and fans everywhere, this tragic loss will be felt deeply – and for a very long time. Descansem em paz, Diogo e André.