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Diogo Jota's widow posts heartbreaking tribute on daughter's first birthday

Diogo Jota's widow shared a moving post on Instagram as the pair's youngest child celebrated her first birthday.

Jota and Rute Cardoso had three children together: two sons – Dinis and Duarte – and a daughter, who was born on November 26 last year. Cardoso marked the one-year-old's birthday with a post on Instagram which featured several pictures of late Liverpool star Jota alongside his baby daughter. The caption simply said: "A whole year."

Jota and Cardoso were married in a beautiful ceremony in Porto on June 22 last year, but the Portugal international forward died less than two weeks later in a horrific car crash, which also claimed the life of his brother, Andre Silva.

Jota's death on July 3 continues to have a profound effect on those who were close to him – as Andy Robertson's comments after Scotland qualified for the World Cup last week confirmed.

"I know he was smiling down tonight, I know he'll have a smile on his face wherever he is, and hopefully he'll have a smile on his face in the summer when hopefully I get to represent my country during the World Cup," said Robertson, after Scotland beat Denmark to secure a place at next summer's World Cup.

Robertson also recalled a conversation he had with Jota during the 2022 World Cup, when the pair were on a Liverpool training camp in Dubai after missing out on the tournament altogether.

Scotland failed to qualify for the showpiece in Qatar after losing to Ukraine in a play-off semi-final at Hampden Park, while a calf injury ruled Jota out of selection contention for Portugal.

After Scotland confirmed its place at a first World Cup since 1998, Robertson spoke about how he and Jota used to discuss what it would be like to turn out for their respective countries on the biggest stage in sport.

"I go back to the Qatar World Cup when we were eon a training camp in Dubai," Robertson said on Sky Sports. "Jots missed out due to injury, I missed it due to missing out in the play-offs. We always discussed how it would feel playing in a World Cup.

"Obviously it was a bit more likely that it was going to happen for him with Portugal than [me with] Scotland. Then today when I woke up I couldn't get him out of my head all day.

"I hid it well from the lads probably, but being in the room all I could think about was him."

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