Jota’s car probably speeding before fatal crash, says Spanish police

All the evidence so far suggests Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota was driving when his car crashed on a Spanish motorway, and he was likely speeding, say police.

The 28-year-old Liverpool player was killed with his brother André Silva, 25, when their Lamborghini car had a suspected tyre blowout in northwestern Zamora province early last Thursday.

Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said at the time the car had apparently been overtaking on the A52 motorway near Palacios de Sanabria when it left the road and burst into flames.

“Everything also points to a possible excessive speed beyond the speed limit of the road [highway],” said Zamora’s local traffic police.

Police said they had studied the marks left by one of the Lamborghini’s tyres and that “all the tests carried out so far indicate that the driver of the crashed vehicle was Diogo Jota”.

The expert report is being prepared for the courts on the accident, and their investigation is understood to have been made more complex by the intensity of the fire that almost completely destroyed the car.

The accident happened 11 days after Jota had married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso in Portugal. The couple had three children.

The brothers had been heading to the Spanish port of Santander so Jota could return to Liverpool for pre-season training.

Their funeral took place in their hometown of Gondomar, near Porto at the weekend.

Tyre marks were reportedly visible about 100m (330ft) from the moment of impact.

Although there had been suggestions that the asphalt on the road was uneven where the crash took place, police told Spanish media it was not an accident “black spot” and the road should have been driveable beyond the speed limit of 120km/h (75mph).