By Victor Kanayo
It was a gathering of family members, friends and fellow football stars on a day Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota was buried in his hometown, Gondomar, in Portugal, few days after he perished in a fatal car accident.
Also, Jota’s brother, Andre Silva, was buried same Saturday in star-studded funeral ceremony.
Jota, 28, and Silva, 25, were killed on Thursday after their vehicle veered off a motorway in northwestern Spain and became engulfed in flames.
The incident occurred a week after the Portugal forward had got married.
Just hours before the accident, Jota had posted a video of his June 22 wedding to partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children.
A number of teammates from the national side, including Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Danilo Pereira and Joao Felix, as well as coach Roberto Martinez, attended, though national skipper Cristiano Ronaldo was not present.
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s number 20, AFP reports.
Friday evening had seen Van Dijk, several players including Liverpool’s Uruguay international Darwin Nunez and Liverpool coach Arne Slot meet with Jota’s family and attend a wake for the deceased brothers.
Among those who came to offer their condolences were a childhood friend, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes, and Porto club president Andre Villas-Boas.
