Before the game, towards the end of Portugal’s national anthem, Jota’s picture appeared on the big screen in Toronto, and was greeted with a loud cheer from the supporters.
Portugal paid a touching tribute to Diogo Jota at the end of their remarkable World Cup victory against Croatia.
It is a year since Jota, while a Liverpool player, died in a car accident in Spain, 11 days after marrying his long-term partner Rute Cardoso. His brother Andre Silva was also killed in the accident on 3 July 2025.
BBC Sports reports that at the end of Portugal’s drama-filled 2-1 win to set up a last-16 tie against Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo put on a special ’21’ shirt in Jota’s memory before the squad came together with the shirt held aloft.
Before the game, towards the end of Portugal’s national anthem, Jota’s picture appeared on the big screen in Toronto, and was greeted with a loud cheer from the supporters.
Ronaldo also appeared emotional as the cameras focused on him, having played with Jota 32 times for their country.
“Diogo is our sun and our light,” said Portugal manager Roberto Martinez before the match, having named Jota as an honorary ‘plus-one’ player when he announced his squad in May. “We want to win the World Cup for him.”
Jota, 28, was on his way back to Liverpool for pre-season when the car, a Lamborghini, left the road because of a tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle.
He was making the journey to England by car and ferry as doctors had advised the forward, who celebrated winning the Premier League title two months earlier, against flying because he had undergone minor surgery.
“I still talk to him,” Ruben Neves said about Jota, his close friend and former Porto, Wolves and Portugal team-mate, in the build-up to the match.
“We have a WhatsApp group with Rute and Diogo, and it’s still there, and we continue to talk there,” he told Portuguese TV show, external Alta Definicao.
“Whenever something special happens, I have the conversations archived on my WhatsApp so I can continue to send him messages.”
