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Thousands of people gathered on Sunday morning in the church of Gondomar, a municipality east of the Porto metropolitan area, for the funeral of Liverpool player Diogo Jota and brother André Silva, who died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday.
The bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, presided over the funeral mass. The church was completely full and a few dozen people followed the ceremony through loudspeakers outside. The coffins were then transported to the cemetery next to the church.
The urns of the two players were carried by friends and players from Gondomar FC, the club where Diogo Jota launched his football career at the age of 9. André Silva also started playing football at the same club before transferring to FC Porto’s youth academy.
The procession on foot to the cemetery was accompanied by thousands of fans who, from a distance, wanted to pay their last respects to the two local players.
The Liverpool Football Club squad attended the ceremonies on Saturday, led by their captain Virgil Van Dijk, who arrived with a red floral arrangement in the shape of a football shirt with Diogo Jota’s number 20 embossed in white.
Liverpool teammate Andrew Robertson carried a similar arrangement with the number 30, the number worn by Silva, who played for FC Penafiel in Portugal’s second division.
Portugal’s national team coach Roberto Martínez and several top Portuguese players were also present, including Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias from Manchester City and Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.
“These are very sad days, today was a reminder that we are a family, we are together and we are Portugal. Now we have to say thank you for all the messages from all over the world. We’re with André Silva and Diogo Jota, always,” Portugal’s national coach told journalists after the funeral of the two players.
Jota’s national side captain and football superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, was however notably absent. British media outlet – The Mirror – says the Portuguese star opted to skip the funeral as to not detract from the sombre proceedings.
A few days ago, Ronaldo took to his social media to share an emotional tribute to Jota.
Diogo, 28, and André, 25, were found dead near Zamora, in northwestern Spain, in the early hours of Thursday morning, after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of the A-52 highway shortly after midnight on Thursday and burst into flames.
The brothers were on their way to Santander, northern Spain, to catch a ferry to the United Kingdom, where Jota was due to return to Liverpool after the summer break to prepare for the new season.
Spanish officials say a tire on Jota’s car blew out as he attempted to overtake another vehicle. Police are still investigating the incident.
The bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family. A wake was held for the two players on Friday.
Jota’s death came two weeks after he married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, while on holiday after a long successful season in which he helped Liverpool win their 20th Premier League and Portugal win their second UEFA Nations League title last month.
The couple had three children together with the youngest born last year. The shocking death of the Liverpool striker sparked an outpouring of condolences from across the world of sport, entertainment and politics.
Additional sources • AP
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