Diogo Jota’s family and Liverpool team-mates bid a heartbreaking final farewell to the footballer and his brother at a service in Portugal.
The Liverpool squad joined thousands who turned out in the forward’s home town of Gondomar to pay their respects on Saturday.
Liverpool team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson led mourners with two touching red wreaths in the shape of football shirts emblazoned with Jota’s No 20 and his brother’s No 30.
Jota’s devastated wife Rute Cardoso was consoled by family members as she held his coffin as it was carried into the Igreja Matriz church, where the service ended with Ave Maria by Franz Schubert, which was played at their wedding less than two weeks ago.
Jota, 28, and his brother Andre Silva, 25, died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Jota was 190 miles into a trip from Porto to Santander where he planned to take a ferry to England when the crash happened while overtaking in the Spanish province of Zamora.
As well as his Liverpool footballers many of Diogo’s Portugal team-mates also attended the funeral including Ruben Neves, who flew to Portugal after playing for Al-Hilal in their Club World Cup match against Fluminense in Orlando, US, to be a pallbearer.
Addressing hundreds of mourners inside the church, Manuel Linda, the Bishop of Porto, dedicated his homily to Jota’s three children, who were too young to attend, saying he would “pray a lot for you” adding that “if it is difficult to see an adult cry, it is even more difficult to see a child cry”.
“The ones who suffer a lot are your mother and your grandparents. Seeing the mortal remains of a child must be a greater torment, but when there are two urns there are no words,” he added.
The service was so packed with mourners that about a hundred guests had to listen while huddled around the steps of the 17th century church.
Thousands of the town’s residents, many in Liverpool or Portugal colours, gathered on all sides of the church grounds to listen to the hour-long service before the brothers were laid to rest in the Sao Cosme cemetery a short walk away.
Speaking after the service, Roberto Martínez, the Portugal national coach, was emotional as he told of his sadness over the tragedy.
“I can only say that these are very, very sad days,” he said. “Today was a demonstration for Diogo and Andre that we are all together and that we are Portugal. Now, I would like to thank everyone for their presence, for all the messages from all over the world. We are with Andre Silva and Diogo Jota. Always, always with us.”
