Evidence suggests Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota was driving when his car crashed on a Spanish motorway, and he was probably speeding, a police investigation reveals.
The 28-year-old Liverpool midfielder was slain together with his brother André Silva, 25, after their Lamborghini automobile suffered a suspected tyre rupture in northern Zamora province early last Thursday.
According to Spain’s Guardia Civil police, the automobile was apparently overtaking on the A52 motorway near Palacios de Sanabria when it veered off and caught fire.
“Everything also points to a possible excessive speed beyond the speed limit of the road [highway],” said Zamora’s local traffic police.
Police stated they investigated the impressions 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 on the accident is being prepared for the courts, and it is understood that the ferocity of the fire, which nearly entirely destroyed the car, has complicated their research.
The catastrophe occurred 11 days after Jota married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, in Portugal. The couple has three children.
The brothers had been on their way to the Spanish port of Santander so that Jota could return to Liverpool for preseason training.
Their funeral was held this weekend in their hometown of Gondomar, near Porto.
Tyre marks were apparently evident about 100 metres (330 feet) from the point of contact.
Although there were reports that the asphalt on the road was uneven where the disaster occurred, police told
Spanish media that it was not an accident “black spot” and that the road should have been driveable above the speed limit of 120 km/h (75 mph).
