Diogo Jota remembered

0:00Vicky Gomersall:Liverpool and the football world mourns the death of Diogo Jota at the age of just 28. Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who was just 25, were killed in a car crash in Spain this morning. You join us here on Sky Sports News on a tragic day for a club, a nation and more poignantly a family who have lost two loved ones. Anfield is the centre of that collective grief this evening as thousands pay tribute to a player who had only a few months ago celebrated delivering a Premier League trophy We'll be live to Anfield with our reporter Ben Ransom very shortly but also to Wolves, the club where Jota first made his name in English football Rob Jones is there for us We'll be live in Bern, the capital of Switzerland as Portugal women will pay tributes before their Euro 2025 opener with Spain.

0:53Vicky Gomersall:That's with Geraint Hughes. And to Philadelphia, where our chief correspondent, Carve Solicor, has details of FIFA's reaction at the Club World Cup. And so it's to Anfield we go first, where Ben Ransom has been amongst Liverpool supporters arriving all day, paying their tributes, leaving flowers and other things as well. Ben, obviously this news has reached us at around 9.30 this morning here in the UK. the story is becoming clearer as to what happened in Spain what do we know

1:23Sky Sports News reporters:yeah we are starting to build that picture and it appears as though the crash happened at around 12 30 in the morning that's certainly what Spanish police have reported and those reports have been firmed up as the day has gone on what we do know is that Diogo Jota was in a Lamborghini with his younger brother, Jota, just 28, his brother just 25 years old. They were travelling in this area near Zamora in north-west Spain, just north of the Portuguese border. There's some suggestion they may have been travelling to get a ferry and travelling on their way back to the UK. Liverpool were due back in pre-season training next week.

2:04Sky Sports News reporters:And what police believe happened is that a tyre on the car burst, which is what's caused the car itself to veer off the road into what appears to be a central reservation. That's when it sets alight and tragically both Diogo and his younger brother lost their lives at the scene. As I say, that, according to Spanish police, happened at around 12.30, 12.35 in the morning. They were called to that scene and we learned the news this morning here in the UK. Many of us woke up to that tragic news that Diogo Jota and his younger brother had both lost their lives.

2:42Vicky Gomersall:Ben, it's utterly devastating. As you said, we were waking up to this news here. Obviously, the club are completely devastated by this news and so too their former manager, Jurgen Klopp.

2:55Sky Sports News reporters:Yeah, understandably, it has shocked everyone to their core. Liverpool have said quite simply they are devastated and that this is an unimaginable tragedy and of course all of the supporters that have been arriving here today to pay their respects could never have imagined waking up to that news lots of flowers have been laid and scarves there have been supporters from of course Liverpool so much of this is red and white But Everton, the team, the supporters that share this city with Liverpool have been turning up to pay their respects because this goes beyond tribalism within football, beyond club boundaries.

3:37Sky Sports News reporters:This is about a game that's lost a superstar player. The Premier League will not get to see Diogo Jota again. And you can only imagine what that is like for his Liverpool teammates to come to terms with. We've heard from a few today. Harvey Elliott, who's been out playing for the England under-21s so successfully in this summer. Diogo, I can't believe you're gone, he writes. It's hard to put into words how much this hurts us. You were an incredible footballer, the kind that made a difference every single time you stepped on the field. You were humble, hard-working, kind and always there for anyone that needed anything.

4:14Sky Sports News reporters:I feel so lucky to have shared the pitch with you shared memories and moments I'll carry with me forever you'll always be part of this team part of the Liverpool family we will never ever forget you Darwin Nunez also part of the Liverpool squad he has gone onto social media to release the following words today saying there are no words of comfort for so much pain I will always remember you with your smile as a good companion on and off the field I send all my strength to his family from where he is. I'm sure he will always be with you, especially his wife and three children. And then from the man who brought him here to Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, who saw something in Diogo Jota during his time at Wolves to spend the money to bring him here to Liverpool that ultimately yielded an FA Cup, a League Cup and indeed the Premier League trophy this summer.

5:08Sky Sports News reporters:Jurgen Klopp, his former manager, writes, This is a moment where I struggle. There must be a bigger purpose, but I can't see it. I'm heartbroken to hear about the passing of Diogo and his brother Andre. Diogo was not only a fantastic player, but also a great friend, a loving and caring husband and father. We will miss you so much. All my prayers, thoughts and power to Root and the kids, the family, the friends and everyone who loved them. Rest in peace. Love, Jay. So, tributes from in and around the Liverpool family, and it's that word family that comes up time and time again amongst the supporters that have been arriving here to pay their own tributes.

5:49Sky Sports News reporters:I, of course, have spoken to many through the day, and that sense of shock is something that bonds them as a community together. It's awful, absolutely awful. I mean, this morning when my phone was going off, I saw these messages, and then, like, thousands of us, we all found out the sad news. It's just shocking. At 28, not long got married. Young man, wife and family. It's just awful, awful. Everything ahead of him at 28. It's just, you can't take it all in. You can't take it in.

6:25Vicky Gomersall:Sad, very sad. Emotion, was a good player. We miss him. Yeah, he just got married. And the kids, sad. I cried. I didn't know what to do it was horrible

6:41Sky Sports News reporters:and today coming out to pay your respects why was it important to come to Anfield? I've been a fan since I was probably like 4 or 5 years old and it's my whole life and I had to it wouldn't feel right if I didn't and we went to the parade and everyone loved her and I'm just glad I went to the parade to be fair and got that last memory in Every time, like, Arsenal, White, in the Cup, every time he played Everton, you know what I mean? It was like he was one of us. He was like he was a scouser, you know what I mean? He was sad, just so sad. He's just a breath of fresh air. You knew when he was playing, he'd come on and something had happened.

7:22Sky Sports News reporters:He was that sort of player. I love the Liverpool fans. It really is shocking news. There's a lifelong Liverpool support. It's like you've lost part of your family. it's just, I can't take it in. Diego is Liverpool.

7:39Vicky Gomersall:Diego is Liverpool.

7:41Sky Sports News reporters:So as you can hear there, heartfelt words, fans struggling to come to terms with the fact they'll never get to see Diego Jota in either a Liverpool shirt or fans of Wolves and other teams that he played for as well, mourning the loss of a player they had so much affection for, a player that played with a smile on his face, a player that was tenacious, that gave everything, no matter who he was representing, be that a club here in the English Premier League or be that his country, Portugal, where he helped them win the Nations League a matter of weeks ago. That's the element of this tragedy. Not only have Liverpool, this family, this city lost, a very humble man who was so well-loved.

8:22Sky Sports News reporters:The fans are continuing to stream here, many of them coming after school, after work now to lay flowers. as this scene, these tributes, the number of tributes has grown exponentially since this morning we turned up and there were maybe a handful, a dozen of floral tributes. Now, as you can see, it stretches right down some 50, 60 metres outside the main stand here at Anfield, poignantly opposite the permanent memorial to those that lost their lives as a result of the Hillsborough disaster. Liverpool as a city once again having to come together to deal with the tragedy.

8:58Vicky Gomersall:It certainly is. Ben Ransom, live from Anfield. Thank you very much. Well, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher joined us on the phone earlier. He gave us his reaction to the tragic news, describing Jota as a quiet, humble family man. There's a time, one of the few times probably, when we all come together, the football family

9:18Sky Sports News reporters:really, and just cannot believe it. You know, the news today, you know, so sad for everybody involved, especially his family and his wife and obviously the three wonderful children that they've got. Devastating fit for all involved, of course. In the role now, obviously I'm associated with the club for playing in the past but I don't know the current players particularly well so I won't pretend to know Diogo as I said particularly well. He lived really close to us. He was only basically a few hundred yards around the corner from but kept himself to himself. He came across as probably not the typical way that maybe some people portray Premier League football.

10:02Sky Sports News reporters:He seemed very quiet, very humble, real family man. Went about his business, did his business on the pitch, very quiet, as I said, and humble off the pitch and just seemed like a really great guy, great footballer. But at the moment, it's not really about that. So, yeah, it is really difficult to find the words, you know, what to say about him. But I think more importantly right now, it's not really about the football or Liverpool, if you like. It's about certainly his family right now and, you know, what his parents are going through. So there's a lovely wife and three lovely kids. I don't think it's just Liverpool fans.

10:40Sky Sports News reporters:They will feel a little bit more maybe than others, understandably so. But I think the whole of football comes together in situations like that. and you just think, as I said, the summer that he's had, he's probably going into the prime of his career, he's just won the title of Liverpool, the Nations League of Portrait, he's married two weeks ago, and I think it probably just shows us all, doesn't it, how quickly life can change, and you think, you know, what a summer he's had, what a time he's had, him and his family, then you get this devastating news that his parents, his wife, friends and family have had in the last few hours or so you can't even comprehend it really and it probably makes us all step back a little bit, you know, and take things in about, you know, how unimportant certain things are, maybe football in itself is really we all get, at times, myself included you know, we get passionate about the game we get heated about the game but at times like this you just think why, why, what for you know, when you think of you know, this what's happened then, what it's going to mean for the people around them.

11:49Vicky Gomersall:Well, Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalgleish said this, football is not important at this sad time. You feel helpless knowing there's so little we can do to ease the pain for his wife of just two weeks, his three beautiful children. Thinking in prayer for all their loved ones after the devastating loss of both Diogo and Andre. You'll never walk alone. Former Liverpool captain Stephen Gerrard paid tribute to Jota on his Instagram story. he wrote RIP Diogo condolences to his family and friends at this incredibly sad time. Jota's former Liverpool teammate Sally Omani has also posted on Instagram. They played together for two seasons at Anfield.

12:27Vicky Gomersall:He put an image of the pair together with heartbreak emojis.

12:34Vicky Gomersall:Well, Jota made more than 130 appearances for Wolves before his talent caught the attention of Liverpool, who, of course, he went on to join in 2020. and Rob Jones has been at Molyneux for us all day. And Rob, it's where it all began, isn't it, for Jota in the UK, here for him, and an incredibly sad day, you'd have to say, for Wolves. How have they reacted to this news?

12:55Sky Sports News reporters:Yeah, I think a similar story to what we've seen and what we've heard from Anfield already this hour, Vicky, that there are huge sadness here from Wolves supporters and everyone associated with the club because of what Diogo Jota helped deliver during his three seasons as a Wolves player and the manner in which he did it as well. There was quite a short statement from Wolves released earlier on today. They wanted as a mark of respect to let Liverpool release a statement first, given that Xhota was their player. But I think they then needed a couple of hours to maybe just compose themselves, compose their thoughts and come up with the right words to remember a man who helped deliver so much for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

13:31Sky Sports News reporters:But Geoff Shee, as part of the statement, has said this. Diogo was a top player and, for me, one of the top three players in the whole ten years that Fosun and I have been here. but he was also a nice boy who was very warm, very nice and always understanding but he was also demanding. As a top player you sometimes have to demand your teammates to do well and although he was a player on the pitch never to shout you could always see what he wanted from you. He was a very positive and optimistic guy and he could even give the chairman confidence but he was a guy with very smart, clear ideas. He was intelligent and also very decisive in his actions.

14:07Sky Sports News reporters:I feel he had the potential to become a very good CEO or entrepreneur in the future because he was very clear with what he wanted to do. Diogo will be sorely missed by everyone here at Wolves and our thoughts go out to his family and friends. As a player, Diogo Jota signed in the 2017-18 season. Wolves promoted as champions from the championship with 99 points. They were the best team in the league by a long way. Jota, the top scorer, with 17 league goals into the Premier League. Wolves went and they didn't look at all out of place. back-to-back seventh place finishes an FA Cup semi-final. Jota's famous goal in the quarterfinal here against Manchester United in March 2019.

14:45Sky Sports News reporters:Into Europe, he scored the first European goal for Wolves for nearly 40 years. Back-to-back hat-tricks in the competition as well. So a huge impact on the field from Diogo Jota in three seasons before moving to Liverpool in 2020.

15:00Vicky Gomersall:Yeah, and we can see behind you as you speak, Rob, you know, plenty of people just coming there this evening and throughout the day. paying their tributes. What did he mean to the fans there?

15:12Sky Sports News reporters:Yeah, there's not been a moment today, Vicky, where there has been no one here at Molyneux underneath the statue of one of the Wolves' greats, Billy Wright, and the tributes have just continued to expand and expand. Flowers, cards, personal touches from supporters. There will always be a Diogo Jota moment, whether it was on the pitch or off it, that certain people remember. There's a lovely bunch of flowers inside of one of them. it is a picture of Diogo Jota with a young fan he'd obviously stopped on the way out of training to just share a moment and as a young football fan we've all been there you always remember that those little moments you spend with one of your heroes are the sort of times that absolutely make your week, make your month you're telling all your friends at school about it and that was clearly what we saw in that picture of Diogo Jota and one young supporter, the mayor of Wolverhampton actually Craig Collings would have just been here himself to lay some flowers too but different emotions, different reasons, I think, for feeling sad from Wolf supporters that we've been speaking to right throughout the course of this desperately tragic day.

16:10Sky Sports News reporters:I know what it feels like as a parent to lose a child, but to lose two, you can't put it into words how his parents must feel and his poor, poor wife of, what, two weeks and the three beautiful children that they've got. it's just devastating devastating

16:33Vicky Gomersall:you don't ever forget really no matter what team they go on to play for they're still you never forget the memories and we had some really really good memories I don't think there'd be anybody that could fill his shoes anyway to be perfectly honest with you I don't think we'll ever find another Diego Jota

16:52Sky Sports News reporters:just give me your memories of Diego if you can

16:57Vicky Gomersall:fantastic Fantastic, talented, never really missed a shot on goal for the Molinia. He got us up to where we are now. He was one of the players that got us up to where we are now. And I was very sad to see him go. I really didn't want him to go, but obviously people move on. But once a wolf, always a wolf. A really lovely tribute there from that lady there. But we've heard from Jurgen Klopp already today. wasn't just Jürgen Klopp, another former manager has had something to say as well. Nuno Espirito Santo, a lovely relationship the two had.

17:38Sky Sports News reporters:Yeah, I was just going to share that story actually, Vicky, of the day that Diogo Jota became a Liverpool player in 2020 and being at the Wolves training ground and speaking to Nuno Espirito Santo that day. And a lot of people who watch will know that he's relatively conservative in his words when he speaks to the media, Nuno. So I think given that day that the transfer actually hadn't been fully confirmed from Wolves to Liverpool, we were unsure as to how much Nuno would want to say about Diogo Jota and his move. But he was absolutely gushing in what he had to say about Jota that day. He spoke about him almost as if he was losing his son.

18:11Sky Sports News reporters:And Nuno always talks about creating something, creating an atmosphere at any club he's at, whether that was Wolves or he had great success now at Nottingham Forest. but Jota had given so much to the cause, not just in terms of his goals and the way he played, but his effort, his attitude. He was always hassling, putting pressure into tackles, that sort of thing. He would always go for 50-50s with defenders who were possibly bigger and stronger, sometimes to his own detriment in getting injured. And Nuno clearly recognised that this was an opportunity at Liverpool that Diogo Jota had earned. But I think maybe fitting actually to finish with some words from his former team-mate.

18:45Sky Sports News reporters:Nuno had some great players in that championship team. They were way too good for the league. Jota was one of them. Ruben Neves, who went on to be the Wolves' captain, was another. A very short statement from him on social media today that simply said, they say we only lose people when we forget them. I will never forget you. And I think that is a sentiment that was shared by everyone connected with Wolves on the time that Diogo Jota spent here at Molyneux.

19:06Vicky Gomersall:Yes, I would very much agree. Rob Jones, live from Molyneux, thank you very much.

19:14Vicky Gomersall:Dharmesh joins me now on set and Dharmesh, tributes have been pouring in all day, haven't they?

19:20Sky Sports News reporters:They have and we shouldn't be surprised about that. This is kind of transcended rivalries as well between football clubs because I think every Premier League club, loads of other clubs from home and abroad have been paying their tributes and there have been Portugal teammates of Diogo Jota posting their tributes on social media as well. Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United captain, rivals, of course, of Liverpool, big rivals of Liverpool. But he said this, it was in Portuguese and it translates to friend, colleague and companion of a thousand battles. It's hard to understand how can someone leave so soon?

19:56Sky Sports News reporters:May you and your brother find the peace you need to watch over your loved ones who lost you too soon and suddenly. My condolences to all your family. And Cristiano Ronaldo also posted this tribute. He said, it doesn't make sense. Just now we were together in the national team. Just now you had got married to your family, your wife and your children. I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you'll always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo and Andre. We'll all miss you.