Diogo Jota died on Thursday, at the age of 28, a victim of a road accident.
“Not even in my best dreams had in mind what has been happening in my career.” Diogo José was a “special case”.
Portugal is in mourning. Diogo José Teixeira da Silva Without warning this Thursday with Brother André, 25, possibly at the peak of his personal and professional life.
Diogo Jota was born in Porto on December 4, 1996 and was created in Gondomarwell accompanied by the family, who, despite “humble, is well structured,” guaranteed the former President of Paços, Carlos Barbosa, in 2016, the year when the 20 -year promise was heading for FC Porto on Atletico Madrid loan.
“It will be one of the best in the world”predicted the leader to. And so it was. With a discreet and calm profile, they remind him of his colleagues, preferred to play PlayStation or stay with his family than to go to exits or dinner.
So he traced his way to a tragic car accident to take his life and his brother’s life, Days after getting married With Ruth Cardoso, teenage love with whom she dated since she was 15, when she played in the juniors of Gondomar.
“Diogo was already in Gondomar, I came from Jovim when I joined the secondary and fell into the same class. He was applied, on the one hand, disinterested, on the other. He could take good grades, but without studying much. It was only in those two days before the tests,” Ruth said in 2016, quoted by.
Jota and Ruth were already parents of three – Dinis, four, Duarte, two, and a daughter born in November.
At professional level, Jota had just fulfilled the dream of being English champion. The last game he played was at the service of Portugal, which earned him the conquest of the League of Nations.
It was “special case” In Paços, already a proud Paulo Fonseca in 2016 about the (at the time) teenager.
“I think Jota doesn’t need my advice. That is the same as himself. He is a worker, a great professional and a very humble kidit just has to continue to be this way, ”said the one who would later be coach of FC Porto.
“It started out of nowhere”, Jorge Jesus among torn praise to Portuguese 4 years ago.
Whom Faria History In a dragon time to the chest: he became the youngest Portuguese to score for the blues and white in the Champions League and also the club’s youngest Portuguese to score in the classic since Futre.
But the story of little Diogo begins in his grandmother’s backyard, playing the ball and from the vessels with her, said his father, Joaquim, in 2020.
At 7, the boy who just wanted ball went to play for Gondomar. There was until 16. It was at this time that the nickname “Jota” began to distinguish from other “diogos”, recalled the father in the interview with. It was medium-profound, but I already had the goal bearing.
The father proudly remembers the spared spirit of his son, who never asked for brand boots or other luxuries to parents who gave economic difficulties. At the time, it was the humble Jota who his own highlights, with his best moments, in his own YouTube account.
Jota’s life changed at the service of Gondomar’s youth and junior, who earned him the transfer to Paços de Ferreira. He made his debut for the first team at the age of 17-and with a goal in the Portuguese Cup.
I would later make history in Porto, also did so in Paços de Ferreira. Before him, only Simon Sabrosa had scored more than 10 goals as a teenager by Sporting in the last century. Since Chalana that no Portuguese so young was so much, Zerozero’s Playmaker.
“When I was in Gondomar, Not even in my best dreams I had in mind what has been happening in my career. It’s all very fast. I have already arrived at the National Team U21 and I know it will be difficult to be called because there are many options of choice, but I want to continue to fight to rise even more, ”said the striker to Record in 2015, when Benfica was beginning to show interest in his services.
Atletico Madrid saw his 14 goals and went to pick him up for 7 million euros. But it was in the dragon, in the service of Nuno Espírito Santo – who would later see him shine from the Wolves Bank – which he played at that time.
Right in his first game as a starter, against National, he marked a hat-trick. In the last journey of this time, he said goodbye with a goal to his former club, Paços de Ferreira.
In 2020, Jota leaps to a European giant: Liverpool. Out of scoring against Sweden by the national team, he said, this year: “I am very proud of Gondomar, but It is not important where we have seen, but where we are going“.
Jürgen Klopp, coach of the English at the time, had been watching him for three years. It was “a fantastic coach who worried about me,” said Jota in 2020 about the early days reds.
Five years later, “this is a time when I suffer,” says the German coach. “There has to be a greater purpose, but I can’t see it. I’m destroyed for the death of Diogo and his brother André. Diogo was not only a fantastic player, but a great friend and a loving and attentive husband and father.
“We will miss you so much,” the coach ended.
Tomás Guimarães, Zap //
