Spanish police have said that "everything is pointing" to Liverpool forward Diogo Jota driving the Lamborghini that crashed and killed him and his brother Andre Silva last Thursday
Gerard Couzens News Correspondent
13:14, 08 Jul 2025Updated 13:22, 08 Jul 2025
Diogo Jota
Spanish police say "everything is pointing" to Diogo Jota driving the car at the time of his fatal crash(Image: Getty Images)
Spanish police have said for the first time that “everything is pointing” to Liverpool star Diogo Jota driving the Lamborghini supercar he and his football brother André Silva crashed and died in last Thursday.
They also say tests carried out so far appear to indicate the 28-year-old dad-of-three was driving “way in excess” of the speed limit. In only their second official statement since last week’s horror crash on the A-52 near Zamora close to Spain’s north-west border with Portugal, the Civil Guard said: “The expert report is still being worked on and finalised.
“Among other things traffic police from the Zamora branch of the Civil Guard are studying the tread marked by one of the wheels of the vehicle. Everything is also pointing to a possible high excess of speed over the permitted speed on that stretch of the motorway.
“All the tests carried out for the moment point to the driver of the crash vehicle being Diogo Jota. The expert police report when it is finalised will be handed over to a court in Puebla de Sanabria.”
Overnight a Spanish road safety expert said the acid green £180,000 Lamborghini Huracan Jota and his brother were in was going “very fast.”
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)
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It is not yet clear whether the Civil Guard or the investigating court awaiting the full police report will make the findings public. Officials had not said until today who they thought was driving.
Speaking the same day of the 12.30am crash in the sparsely-populated municipality of Cernadilla, officers added: “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.”
Debris left from the crash that killed Diogo Jota and Andre Silva
Debris left from the crash that killed Diogo Jota and Andre Silva(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
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.”
The road, also popularly 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 wreckage from the car crash involving Liverpool star Diogo Jota
The wreckage from the car crash involving Liverpool star Diogo Jota
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The Civil Guard said hours after the crash in its first official statement: “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.
“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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Diogo 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.