HEARTBROKEN RUTE CARDOSO CLINGS TO FAMILY AS SHE BIDS FAREWELL TO HUSBAND DIOGO JOTA

The heartbroken widow of Liverpool winger Diogo Jota was comforted by friends and family as she bid farewell to her late husband.

Diogo, who was a winger for Liverpool, was tragically killed in a car crash alongside his brother André Silva in the Zamora region of Spain.

His tragic death comes just 10 days after his wedding to Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children.

Diogo and André were laid to rest in their native Portugal on Saturday (July 5), with Rute being photographed lying on her husband’s coffin as mourners lined the streets to bid farewell to the players.

Rute and Diogo began dating in 2012, sharing two sons and a daughter together before Diogo popped the question in 2022. They got married in 2025, just 10 days before his untimely death.

In a now heartbreaking post on his Instagram just before his passing, he shared a video of his wedding day, which saw him and Rute walk down the aisle and exchange vows. The late footballer captioned the video ‘a day we will never forget.’

Diogo’s Liverpool teammates Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson and coach Arne Slot attended the funeral in his native Gondomar, near Porto, with crowds lining the streets and applauding as the brothers’ coffins were led into the church.

Born in a family of four in 1996, Diogo started making a name for himself while playing youth football for local side Gondomar before joining Pacos de Ferreira’s academy in 2013.

He chose against going by his last name Silva, to differentiate himself from other Diogo’s and Silva’s in the teams he’d play for; with Jota being the Portuguese pronunciation of the letter J.

Jota made his debut for Pacos at just 17 years old and it wasn’t long until he was picked up by Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in 2016. He wouldn’t go on to make an appearance in the Spanish capital but he was loaned back to his hometown club FC Porto where he had a breakout season in 2016/17, scoring 8 goals as Porto.

As one of the brightest prospects in Portuguese football at this point it came as a shock then when Jota made the move to the midlands of England to join Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves were undergoing a revolution of the club which saw many Portuguese talents join but Jota would go down as one of the best.

He played a crucial part in Wolves getting promoted from the Championship to the Premier League, scoring 17 goals in 44 games before establishing the side in the Premier League scoring nearly 20 goals over two season as Wolves established themselves as a strong Premier League side.

His form in the midlands would see him make the big money move to Anfield to join Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool for £40million in September 2020.

He would play a crucial part in the most successful period in Liverpool’s recent history. He won the FA Cup in 2022 and played a part in Liverpool reaching the Champions League final that same year where they lost to Real Madrid in Paris.

Jota’s club success would translate to the International stage as he played a part in multiple tournaments for Portugal. Since making his debut in 2019 Jota earned 50 caps for his nation, including at the 2020 and 2024 European Championships as well as the 2022 World Cup.

He most recently won the UEFA Nations League with Portugal, after they beat Spain 5-3 on penalties.