- Jota and his brother died after a crash in Spain in the early hours on Thursday
- Jorge Mendes arrived at a funeral home to Spain to support Jota’s loved ones
- The agent was visibly emotional as he delivered his reaction to nearby reporters
Diogo Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes broke down in tears after accompanying the footballer’s family to a funeral home after his tragic death at the age of 28.
Liverpool forward Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a fiery crash in Spain in the early hours of Thursday, after his Lamborghini Huracan came off the road, rolled and burst into flames, setting fire to nearby vegetation.
The tyre of the supercar is said to have blown out while overtaking another vehicle just ten miles over the border from Jota’s native Portugal. The emergency services rushed to the scene but the siblings sadly could not be saved.
The bodies were transported in two hearses to a church in Portugal ahead of today’s wake, and the funeral will take place on Saturday morning. Tearful mourners gathered in the town of Gondomar at around 11pm last night to greet the coffins.
Applause broke out as the hearses passed the amassed crowd.
The vehicles had earlier arrived at a funeral home in the Spanish town of Puebla de Sanabria, where the bodies were taken after the incident.
Diogo Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes accompanied the player’s family at a funeral home
Mendes was emotional as he told reporters ‘I still can’t believe it’ after Jota’s tragic death
Jota’s wake will take place this morning after his tragic death at the age of 28 (pictured: Jota alongside his wife Rute Cardoso after their wedding just a fortnight ago)
Visibly emotional super agent Mendes was pictured arriving while accompanying Jota’s mother, having travelled to Spain to be with the family.
‘We lost two great people. Diogo is an example as a person, husband, son, professional. I still can’t believe it, it’s very difficult,’ said Mendes, in tears.
Mendes also told The Athletic: ‘I still don’t believe it, this is very difficult, very difficult for me. He was a great husband, a great husband and a great professional.’
The hearses later departed for Gondomar, arriving just before midnight.
This morning’s wake will take place just a half-hour drive from Jota’s home city of Porto, northern Portugal – where just two weeks ago the 28-year-old married his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso in a service packed with family and friends.
Jota and his brother Andre, 26, were reportedly on a road trip to Santander to catch a ferry to Britain after he was advised not to fly following lung surgery.
Liverpool are due to start pre-season training on Monday, so Jota was heading back to the UK on a road trip. A Brittany Ferries service from Santander to Plymouth left at 4pm on Thursday, arriving in Devon at 11.15am on Friday.
The football club said in a statement that they were ‘devastated’ by the tragedy and that Diogo’s family, friends and fans had suffered an ‘unimaginable loss’. Flowers and tributes have been laid outside Anfield by supporters in tears.
The hearses carrying the bodies of Jota and his brother Andre Silva arrived at a church in Gondomar and were greeted by heartbroken mourners, many of whom were in tears
The acid green front of what appears to be the front of Jota’s Lamborghini Huracan lies at the side of the road where the incident took place in the early hours of Thursday morning
Jota is pictured (far right) with his wife Rute and younger brother Andre
Local priest Jose Manuel Macedo said the wake will take place at Sao Cosme Chapel before the funeral Saturday at the Catholic church next door – the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar (pictured)
Jota had just married the mother of his three children and partner since the age of 16. He had described himself as the luckiest man in the world to be her husband, sharing footage of their wedding day in his final Instagram post on Wednesday.
Rute shared more wedding day pictures in a social media post and said: ‘My dream come true.’ Jota then replied in the comments: ‘I’m the lucky one.’
The pair got together in 2013, it has been reported, and have three children together – two sons and a daughter who was born in November.
