'OUR HEARTS ARE BROKEN'...FANS IN SHOCK OVER DEATH OF KOP STAR

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota and his brother are killed in horror car smash

- Chris Riches

STUNNED Liverpool fans flocked to Anfield yesterday, saying their "hearts are broken", after striker Diogo Jota was killed in a horror car crash in Spain.

The Portuguese star, 28, and his footballer brother Andre Silva, 25, died when their Lamborghini careered off a road and burst into a fireball.

It came 11 days after Jota married Rute Cardoso, the mother of their three children. Only on Wednesday, Jota hailed their big day as one “we will never forget”.

But, in the early hours of yesterday, a tyre on the brothers’ Lamborghini apparently exploded while they were overtaking near Zamora in northwest Spain.

The supercar came off the road, rolled and burst into flames just after 12.30am local time. The raging blaze was too severe for firefighters to rescue the pair.

Silva played for Portuguese second division side Penafiel.

It is believed the brothers were on their way to catch an overnight ferry to get Jota back for Monday’s start of Liverpool’s preseason training, after being advised not to fly following lung surgery.

Their funerals will take place in their home town of Gondomar, near the Portuguese city of Porto, at 10am tomorrow.

To confirm legal identification, authorities were last night trying to obtain fingerprints and DNA tests to be sent to Madrid.

Yesterday Liverpool’s iconic Anfield stadium was gripped by an outpouring of grief as devastated fans came with scarves, shirts and flowers to pay tribute to their hero in his No20 jersey. The crash comes five weeks after a car ploughed into Liverpool fans, injuring more than 100, as they celebrated Jota’s and manager Arne Slot’s side lifting the Premier League trophy.

Shocked

Shocked former Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, who brought Jota to Liverpool, said of the sudden loss of the star: “This is a moment where I struggle. There must be a bigger purpose. But I can’t see it!