{"id":234683,"date":"2025-07-03T12:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/234683\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T12:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:23:11","slug":"manchester-united-icon-cristiano-ronaldo-pays-emotional-tribute-to-diogo-jota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/234683\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo pays emotional tribute to Diogo Jota"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo has paid tribute to Diogo Jota after he passed away aged 28 following a car accident in SpainDiogo Jota pictured with Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal.(Image: ANP)<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo has paid an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota after his tragic passing.<\/p>\n

The football world has entered into mourning after the passing of Liverpool forward Jota aged 28.<\/p>\n

It was confirmed on Thursday morning that Jota had tragically died in a car accident alongside his brother, Andre Silva, who was also a professional footballer with Portuguese club Penafiel.<\/p>\n

Jota has passed away just a few weeks after marrying his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children. He won the Premier League<\/a> title with Liverpool last season and recently won the Nations League alongside Ronaldo, who has released a statement on social media.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo said: “It doesn’t make sense. Just now we were together in the National Team, just now you had gotten married.<\/p>\n

“To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them. Rest in Peace, Diogo and Andr\u00e9. We will all miss you.”<\/p>\n

The Portuguese FA said: “The Portuguese Football Federation and all of Portuguese football are utterly devastated by the deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother Andr\u00e9 Silva this morning in Spain.<\/p>\n

“Far beyond being an exceptional player, with nearly 50 caps for the National Team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all teammates and opponents, someone with a contagious joy and a reference within his own community.<\/p>\n

“On behalf of the Portuguese Football Federation, I express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Diogo and Andr\u00e9 Silva, as well as to Liverpool<\/a> FC and FC Penafiel, the clubs where the players, respectively, performed.<\/p>\n

“The Portuguese Football Federation has already requested UEFA to observe a minute of silence this Thursday before our National Team\u2019s match against Spain in the Women\u2019s European Championship.<\/p>\n

“We have lost two champions. The passing of Diogo and Andr\u00e9 Silva represents irreparable losses for Portuguese Football, and we will do everything to honour their legacy daily.”<\/p>\n

Portugal\u2019s prime minister, Lu\u00eds Montenegro, wrote on social media: \u201cThe news of the death of Diogo Jota, an athlete who greatly honoured Portugal\u2019s name, and his brother is unexpected and tragic. I extend my deepest condolences to their family. It is a sad day for football and for national and international sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool are “devastated” at the passing of Jota and have asked for privacy for his family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United<\/a> coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n

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You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.<\/p>\n

And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast, featuring The Samuel Luckhurst Show and The Midweek Debate. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify<\/strong><\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/strong><\/a>, and you can also watch along on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo has paid tribute to Diogo Jota after he passed away aged 28 following a car accident…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[4116,94,423,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-234683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-manchester-united-fc","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114789286390688381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}