Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has cut his off-season holiday short amid the news of Diogo Jota’s sad passing and the Egyptian has taken to social media to commemorate the 28-year-old Portuguese, who died alongside his brother on Thursday.
Jota and Andre Silva, who played football for Portuguese side Penafiel, were involved in a fatal car crash in a northwestern province of Spain, Zamora, in the early hours of Thursday – and the two were pronounced dead at the scene.
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Jota joined the club in 2020 and spent five wonderful years at Anfield.
The celebration of the Portuguese duo's lives has now been confirmed: the funeral will be held in Sao Cosme, a half-hour drive from their home city of Porto, on Saturday. The brothers were driving back to the UK after Jota underwent lung surgery and were advised not to fly – and, thus, drive instead – back to where the Liverpool ace lived.
Hundreds of past and present footballers, including Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, have taken to social media to pay tribute to the Liverpool star, who was signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers and his younger brother – and Salah, after processing their awfully terrible news, has also posted a statement.
Salah Posts Tribute to Diogo Jota and His Brother
'They will never be forgotten'
mo salah diogo jota
Posting a tribute to Jota on social media, Salah wrote: “I am truly lost for words. Until yesterday, I never throught there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Teammates come and go but not like this.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won’t be there when we go back. My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children. Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten.”
Salah, 32, has also reportedly cut his holiday short in order to return to Merseyside. According to reports in Egypt, via The Mirror, the ex-Chelsea forward is coming back ahead of schedule – a host of players are now expected to report for pre-season training on Tuesday, July 8.
The Egypt international has been sharing regular holiday snaps on his well-followed Instagram account and has reportedly been spending time in Bodrum, Turkey. He's also been to visit Mombasa, Kenya and Mykonos before heading back to the United Kingdom, which he is now doing earlier than expected.