A Spanish road safety expert has given their theory on the crash that killed Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva as police prepare a report on the fatal accident
Gerard Couzens News Correspondent
10:59, 08 Jul 2025Updated 11:02, 08 Jul 2025
Diogo Jota
A Spanish road safety expert has commented on Diogo Jota's fatal crash(Image: Getty Images)
The Lamborghini supercar Liverpool star Diogo Jota and his footballer brother Andre Silva crashed in was going “very fast”, a Spanish road safety expert has claimed.
Police preparing a report on last Thursday’s fatal accident on the A-52 near Zamora by Spain’s north-west border with Portugal are yet to say how fast they think the acid green £180,000 Lamborghini Huracan was going. It is not yet clear whether the Civil Guard or the investigating court awaiting the full police report will make the findings public and officials have not yet said who was driving.
The force said the same day of the 12.30am crash in the sparsely-populated municipality of Cernadilla just ten miles over the border with Portugal: “Everything is pointing to a tyre blowout as the car was overtaking. As a result of the accident, the car caught fire and both occupants died.”
Overnight road safety expert Javier Lopez Delgado pointed the finger at “multiple factors” including the driving speed, saying: “If they had been going at 55mph they probably wouldn’t have been killed. It seems very clear they were going very fast because of the skid marks.”
Mr Lopez Delgado, president of the Spanish Association of Road Safety Auditors (ASEVI), also said he believed the road surface had been a contributing factor to the men's deaths, insisting: “You can clearly see it had many faults.”
The car accident happened in the northwestern city of Zamora, Spain
The fatal crash happened on the A-52 near Zamora(Image: AP)
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In comments to local paper La Opinion de Zamora, the expert engineer said a tyre blowout he linked to the tyre not being in the “right conditions or having the correct pressure”, wouldn’t be the only factor in the crash.
He told La Opinion de Zamora the central reservation barrier the siblings crashed into acted as an “obstacle” because “the length and angle of incidence were not correct.”
Referencing another accident in the same spot eight days earlier in which a 60-year-old woman was severely injured and had to be cut free from the wreckage of her vehicle by firefighters, Mr Lopez Delgado said: “It could be a coincidence but I’m not a big believer in coincidences.
“When two different cars come off the road at the same kilometre point something’s up.”
Town hall sources in Cernadilla, home to just over 100 people, branded the A-52 highway where last Thursday’s crash happened as “very dangerous” after it emerged dad-of-three Diogo, 28, and his 25-year-old brother had died.
General view of the crash site where Liverpool FC player Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva lost their lives, showing the wreckage of the Lamborghini Huracan at kilometre 65 of the A-52, near the town of Cernadilla, close to Zamora, Spain. The car crash occurred just after midnight on July 3, 2025
The wreckage of the Jota's Lamborghini Huracan(Image: Getty Images)
One quoted by local press said last Thursday: “As it passes through Cernadilla it is full of bends at 120 kilometres per hour. Exceeding the speed limit or poor visibility at night are often the cause of accidents in these areas.
“Today it was two famous footballers, who had a great career ahead of them, but perhaps tomorrow the victims will be two more anonymous people.”
The road, also popularly known as the Rias Bajas motorway, has also been described as an accident blackspot due to the regular presence of wild animals, in particular Iberian wolves and deer which are often the cause of collisions.
The Civil Guard said hours after the crash in its only official statement so far: “A road accident occurred this morning at 00.30 hours at kilometre 65 of the A52, in the municipality of Cernadilla, Zamora. A vehicle left the road, everything points to a tyre blowout while overtaking.
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“As a result of the accident, the car caught fire and both occupants died. Pending the conclusion of the expert tests, the identification of one of the deceased is Diogo Jota, a Liverpool FC player, and his brother Andre Felipe.”
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Jota was heading to the northern Spanish port city of Santander with his brother to catch a ferry to the UK and carry on to Liverpool after the Liverpool player and Portuguese international was advised not to travel by plane following lung surgery.
He had married his childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso, mum to their three young children, on June 22.
The siblings’ funerals took place on Saturday at a church in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto. Several Liverpool players and Diogo’s Portugal teammates were among those who attended after paying their last respects at a wake the previous day.