July 08, (THEWILL) — Spanish police have confirmed that Liverpool forward Diogo Jota was driving the vehicle involved in the fatal crash that killed him and his brother, Andre Silva, on July 7 near Zamora. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Guardia Civil said the investigation points to a combination of high speed and a rear tyre puncture as the likely cause of the crash. The vehicle, a Lamborghini, veered into the central reservation and caught fire on the A52 dual carriageway, close to the Portuguese border.
“The expert report is being carried out and finished, where, among other things, the tread marks left by one of the wheels of the vehicle are being studied,” the Zamora traffic division said. “Everything also points to a possible high excess of speed over the permitted speed of the road. All the tests carried out for the moment point to the fact that the driver of the crashed vehicle was Diogo Jota.” The final report will be submitted to a court in Puebla de Sanabria.
The 28-year-old Jota and his 25-year-old brother were travelling from Spain to the UK to report for Liverpool’s pre-season training when the crash occurred. Last week, investigators began examining whether a puncture during an overtaking manoeuvre caused the car to lose control and catch fire, at both men died at the scene. The crash happened just two weeks after Jota married his long-time partner, Rute, with whom he had three children.
Outside Liverpool’s training base in Kirkby, supporters have laid flowers and pinned banners to the perimeter wall in memory of the Portugal international. Players began returning to the facility on Tuesday for the first time since the end of last season, many of whom had attended the funeral service for Jota and Silva three days earlier. The club’s scheduled pre-season fixture against Preston North End this Sunday remains under review.
Mohamed Salah, reflecting on the loss, said he was dreading his return to the training ground. “Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me from going back to Liverpool after the break,” he said. “Team-mates come and go, but not like this. It is going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo will not be there when we go back.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
