Robert Plant has paid tribute to Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident in Spain yesterday, July 3, aged 28.
The Portuguese international, and his younger brother Andre, (25), also a professional footballer, died when the car in which they were travelling left the road and caught fire in the early hours of Thursday morning. It is believed that the brothers were travelling to Santander, in northern Spain, from Diogo had planned to take a ferry across to Portsmouth, before hooking up with his title-winning Liverpool team-mates for pre-season training.
Before signing for Liverpool in 2020, Jota played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, the English Premier League club at which Plant is Vice President. Jota signed a season-long loan with the club in 2017 while signed to Atlético Madrid, the move being made permanent in 2018.
Paying his respects to the striker, former Led Zeppelin frontman Plant posted on X: “What a tragic loss. The dimming of a bright, shining light. Thank you for your magic, Diogo.”
"What can anyone say at a time like this when the shock and the pain is so incredibly raw?" Liverpool manager Arne Slot said in a statement. "I wish I had the words but I know I do not.
"All I have are feelings that I know so many people will share about a person and a player we loved dearly and a family we care so much about.
"My first thoughts are not those of a football manager. They are of a father, a son, a brother and an uncle and they belong to the family of Diogo and Andre Silva who have experienced such an unimaginable loss."
Jota's Portugal team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo posted: “It doesn’t make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, you had just got married. I know you will always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo e Andre. We will miss you.”
