The Portuguese, who died this morning in Spain after a car accident, was one of the great companions of Guajiro in England.
Photo: EFE – Peter Powell
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Football dawned this Thursday. In a traffic accident in Spain, Jota, striker of Liverpool, and his brother André, footballer of Penafiel, died. Jota was barely 28 years old, had just married and left behind his wife and his two young children. The news hit the world of sport, but also brought back a memory that explains why his departure hurts even more.
In October 2023, Liverpool had to face Nottingham Forest. Luis Díaz, Jota's partner, could not even be in the call: his father had been kidnapped by the ELN. The entire club was hit. Jürgen Klopp understood that Díaz could not play and opted for Diogo Jota to cover his absence.
That day, Jota scored the first goal of the game. But he did not celebrate. He did not lift his arms or look at the stands looking for applause. He went straight to the bank, took Luis Díaz's shirt – with the number 7 and the name of the Colombian – and showed it to all Anfield. A brief but immense gesture, which united fans, rivals and companions in a single applause.
The image toured the world. She was covered in dozens of media and made it clear that behind the player there was a man who understood the pain of a partner as something of her own.
Even the rapporteur, the famous 'Bambino' Pons, changed his routine to narrate the goal with respect: “It is from Jota, but it is Luis Díaz … how they will want it, that there is a tribute with the shirt that Jota shows to honor a footballer who is passing a difficult trance.”
That was not an isolated gesture. Since Luis Díaz arrived from Porto in 2022, he found someone who spoke his language, literally and figuratively. The closeness, first facilitated by the Portuguese, became complicity inside and outside the court.
Today, with the sudden death of Jota, that gesture charges an even greater value. Not only speaks of what was as a footballer, but, above all, what was as a person: someone capable of leaving aside competition and pressure to hold his hand to a partner at his worst moment.
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