RIP Diogo Jota as Liverpool fans joined by rivals in tribute

Tributes have begun to arrive into the Football365 Mailbox after the tragic death of Diogo Jota.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com as transfers suddenly seem a whole lot less important.

This means more
I think I’ve just learned the depth of the emotional connection we have as fans with these lads. RIP Diogo.
Paul (LFC, London)

…Just heard the horrific news about Diogo Jota

No words really. Just puts all this transfer/rivalry nonsense in to some perspective.

Just married, three kids and his whole life ahead of him.

Gutted.

RIP Diogo Jota, YNWA
Al – LFC and football in general

…Thousands of people in Europe die in vehicle related incidents every year. They don’t know me and I don’t know them. I’m unaffected by their deaths and while I can acknowledge the tragedy of a family left behind and the waste of a life I don’t carry any of the weight.

Diogo Jota didn’t know me and I didn’t know him. I knew fragments about his life and I saw him play for Liverpool countless times. Does the sum of that familiarity materially change how I should feel about his death compared to others?

I don’t know. But boy this hit me hard this morning. Liverpool FC is a thread through time, connecting me to friends and family. Beyond the football itself it is a totem pole, a constant. Something I care about and Jota cared for it too. So we may be strangers but I am grateful for his commitment to something that means so much to me.

Thank you, Jota.
TM

…I loved watching this lad pop goals in for Liverpool fc as a fan to wake up to such news broke my heart my love goes to his family x YNWA.
SCOTT

…I’m 47 years old and a Liverpool fan for at least 37 of them & have seen more than my fair share of tragedy & grief through football but I’ve never seen something like this before.

Sure we all see club legends pass & it’s sad but they’ve usually lived their life & it’s not through tragic circumstances. I am shocked, devastated & sad but not quite sure how I should be feeling or if I have the right to feel this way about someone I only knew through being a player of the team I love.

His poor wife of a dozen or so days, his poor kids & then there’s his parents & family who have lost 2 sons/brothers etc. RIP Diogo our number 20, you’ll never walk alone.
Marcel G, LFC

…Shocked and stunned that Jota died from a car accident. There have been near deaths on field, but footballer deaths from car accident? The last one must have been so long ago!

Really bummed and sad for him and his wife and their 3 kids. Poor bloke just got married 2 weeks ago and claimed to be the luckiest man in the world. Scandal free and looked like he’d be the type to totally mean that comment – to really value his marriage, wife, and family.

Besides, anyone willing and able to play as supporting striker to serial berater Ronaldego for Portugal, has to have humility, composure, calmness, and no measure of skill.

Snarky ronaldego comment aside, Jota wasn’t always healthy to take the field, but until recently, he was almost always a bang on guarantee of a goal every other game. Decent in the air, good with either foot, great dribbler, good composure, incredible (maddog) presser. Always put in a hard shift, this lunchpail working class style striker.

Definitely will be missed by us LFC fans.

Look for banner and tribute and memorial at 1st home game of upcoming season.
Gab ynwa
PS rip jota. We certainly miss u.

No tribalism, just love
I’m sure you will get countless emails, especially from Liverpool fans, about the devastating loss of Diogo Jota.

It is moments like these that you realise that football, with all its partisan ways, actually is a game that brings us all together. He got married 4 days ago and has 3 children, I cannot even imagine what his wife is going through. He died with his brother, so his parents have lost 2 children. The pain is almost inconceivable.

There will no doubt be some ghoulish people who will take some sick pleasure on social media to say some reprehensible things, and my advice is to ignore them. They are not worth it.

Liverpool as a club have always portrayed themselves as a family, and I’m sure they will rally around Jota’s family in a wonderful way. I wish the fans of Liverpool and the Jota family all the care in the world. This is a terrible day for them all.

And I say this as an Arsenal fan, a club he loved to score against.
John Matrix AFC

…Awful news about Diogo Jota and his brother Andre today. I always found him such a fascinating player. He didn’t appear to be the biggest, strongest, quickest or even most technical but his intelligence was remarkable.

It was Suarez like at times the way he could just eliminate an opponent with a slight shimmy or turn. His finishing and aerial ability were quality too. Even as a person, he seemed very genuine. I liked watching his interviews. He seemed very honest and laid back. RIP.

I’d also like to point out how nauseating it is seeing shite from rival fans saying “I support Man United but RIP Jota”. What is this obsession with staying you support a different team. Nobody cares. You don’t have to be a Liverpool fan to feel compassion for someone dying, that goes without saying and shouldn’t even have to be stated. You’re just looking for a pat on the back.
Dion

…The thing about footballers is that they live our dreams and carry our hopes. When one goes in the prime of life it hits at our core, just like the death of children – it shouldn’t be this way. My heart goes out to his children, wife, and their families. Great player, great person, and a loss to many, leaving in the very prime of his life. RIP.
Nick in Woking

…Suddenly football, and who’s signing who, and Arsenal’s pressing need for a no9 or Man United overpaying or Orient selling everyone or the CWC or whatever just seems so effing pointless and irrelevant.

Man had just got married. Had three kids. 28 years old. I can’t even imagine.
Dan, London

…I’m a life-long Manchester United fan, but the tragedy that took place earlier has devastated me, my heart goes out to Diogo’s family and all my brothers and sisters who support your fantastic club, my deepest sympathy. Tribalism means nothing when tragedy strikes.
MD Durham

…Football just doesn’t matter today does it? I woke up to the news of Diogo Jota’s passing and then further learned he was just married days ago.

Unbelievably tragic.

Condolences to his family and to Liverpool supporters everywhere. I know the club and will make absolutely sure his family is well looked after.
TX Bill, EFC

On Mediawatch
A very quick mail to say fair play for the low key ferocity in the Mediawatch you published earlier today.

Obviously it goes without saying that any attempt to profit from tragedy is deplorable, but the notion that various outlets (yes, the usual ones) are happy to plumb those depths and clickbait something so raw and personal as Jota’s hours-old death is genuinely sickening.

Special mention to the Mirror and Express for racing to publish a pic of the car that those 2 poor guys met their end in. Hopefully there’s a potent brand of karma reserved for that level of callousness.

RIP Diogo and Andre Silva, with a bit of luck you’re both in a place where those cretinous hacks don’t exist.
Keith Reilly

RIP Diogo and Chris
The tragic death of Diogo Jota has inspired me to write…

A close friend of mine was a Liverpool fan – a healthy guy in his early 40s, lovely family, a job he enjoyed. He had a heart attack and died a couple of weeks ago. The funeral is tomorrow. Our last exchange of messages was the night of the Europa League final, with me, a Tottenham fan, nervous as anything, and him, the Liverpool fan, fully supportive in his ABU ways. His death has shattered me and I don’t think I’m prepared for the next 24 hours.

We were in Mexico together for 2003-2004, for an ‘academic’ year rather than a football season, but they overlap quite handily. There were regular trips to the Cuauhtemoc, home of Puebla FC, a cracking stadium and home to some wonderfully weird footballers, notably Eudalio Arriaga, a Colombian forward with one leg shorter than the other. We were at the Azteca for a bonkers Copa Libertadores tie between Club America and Sao Caetano in which bouncy Cuauhtémoc Blanco was sent off and there was a near riot at the end of the match. Pretty sure somebody threw a wheelbarrow onto the pitch.

I remember us waking up stupidly early, usually hungover, to watch English Premier League games early on Saturday and Sunday. We were sharing a hotel room watching Helder Postiga score a very rare winner for Spurs against his Reds – a moment which fully prepared us both for the conclusion of England’s Euro 2004 campaign.

We were somewhere in Belize when news came through that Spurs were appointing Jacques Santini. The following year I won tickets to a Spurs game and took him on his first trip to White Hart Lane. Throughout our travels football was a universal language. You could pull over anywhere and if you had a ball you’d make a friend. We played together for teams in Mexico and the UK. Our one joint appearance for the Physics Department of our local Mexican university is one of my favourite games of all time. Our football ability (limited) was definitely a whole lot more relevant than our knowledge of physics (non-existent).

Jota: Also a young, healthy guy, with a new family, and a job he loved. Gone. In moments. It’s incomprehensible, unfair, unnecessary. Many people’s lives will never be the same again. I hope his family, friends and the Liverpool (+ Portugal, Wolves, etc.) community can find comfort in each other and the memories they hold of his time.

There is so much about football that I dislike, but at it’s root it is a very special game that can create bonds and stories that will outlive anyone. The highs and lows, the frustration and elation…it’s all part of the fun, but it’s the people you meet along the way that are the most important part of this whole game. The shared experiences, the shared memories, and the shared hope.

Now, with my mate, I have only the memories to look back on, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the things we did together.

RIP Chris, RIP Diogo.
MB, Herts, Spurs