Widow's private farewell to beloved Jota

THE widow of tragic Liverpool ace Diogo Jota grieved for her husband at a private chapel ceremony yesterday before his funeral in Portugal today.

- By Chris Riches and Natalia Penza in Portugal

Rute Cardoso, 28, mother to the couple's three children, attended the wake at the chapel where the bodies of the star and his brother Andre Silva were brought after their horror car crash in Spain.

She married the Portuguese forward 12 days earlier — an occasion he hailed as one “we will never forget”.

But in the early hours of Thursday, a tyre on the brothers’ 200mph Lamborghini Huracan exploded as Jota, 28, and Silva, 25, were overtaking near Zamora, northwest Spain, on their way to catch a ferry to the UK. The green £180,000 supercar came off the road, rolled over and burst into flames just after 12.30am local time, killing both men.

As fans continued to lay scarves, flowers, cards and shirts for their fallen hero outside Anfield yesterday, a devastated Rute headed to Sao Cosme Chapel in Gondomar, where she and Jota met and started dating as teenagers. The brothers’ mum Isabel, dad Joaquim, and their grandfather were also spotted there. Relatives embraced as they broke down in tears before walking together to the chapel.

The family ceremony started at 4pm, with Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa among those paying their respects. Hundreds of tearful mourners carrying roses, football scarves and photos of Jota queued to get into the chapel later as a public wake took place in the town.

A funeral mass for the brothers will start at 10am today in neighbouring church the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar a half-hour drive from the church in Porto where Jota and Rute wed. The local council in Gondomar declared a day of official mourning yesterday, with its flag being flown at half mast.

Jota was taking the unusual journey to the UK after being advised not to fly, following lung surgery.

He and his brother, a pro footballer with Portugal second division side Penafiel, were driving to Santander for an overnight ferry to get Jota back for his scheduled start to Liverpool’s preseason training on Monday.