Football grieves Portugal and Reds štar Jota

LIVERPOOL forward Diogo Jota and his brother died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday, police said, weeks after the Portugal star was married — sparking widespread grief across the football world.

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The Civil Guard said a vehicle veered off a motorway and burst into flames shortly after midnight in the municipality of Cernadilla, in the northwestern province of Zamora, confirming the deaths of Jota, 28, and his brother, Andre Silva.

"Everything points to the blowout of a tyre while it (the vehicle) was overtaking," the Civil Guard said in a statement, adding that the corpses had been taken to a morgue.

Local media published video footage showing debris and the charred, mangled remains of what they identified as Jota’s Lamborghini on the side of the motorway. Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo paid tribute to Jota on X, saying the death “makes no sense” just weeks after his marriage and Portugal’s Uefa Nations League triumph.

“We will all miss you,” the superstar forward wrote.

Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença said he was “devastated”, calling Jota “an extraordinary person, respected by all his colleagues and opponents, someone blessed with an infectious joy and a reference for his own community”.