Diogo Jota's wife relives devastating moment she learned Liverpool star had died

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I rang my aunt to tell her I was leaving to join Diogo in Liverpool on Friday, and asked her if they wanted to pop round to our house before then.”They headed over, entirely oblivious to the important role they would play that night.“After my aunt and uncle had left, I looked at my watch and thought it was about the time that Diogo and André must have been arriving at the hotel. No, they had not yet arrived.Bursting with anxiety, Rute rang André’s girlfriend Paula, who told her that she hadn’t spoken to him for a few hours.

Meanwhile, her sister Lídia had another idea: they could call Uncle Vítor, a lorry driver, who might be able to obtain more information from the police.“I rang him,” Rute recalls, “explaining that I couldn’t get hold of Diogo and that they hadn’t arrived at the hotel yet. According to my watch, I walked 11 kilometres that night, just pacing around the yard at my sister’s house."Two psychologists from the National Institute of Medical Emergencies had already arrived to support Rute and the rest of the family when Uncle Vítor called again to tell her that there was something important she had to hear.On the other end of the line was a Spanish police officer who, after confirming that he was speaking to Rute Cardoso and that he had Jota’s ID in his possession, stated the following: “I hereby declare the death of Diogo José Teixeira da Silva, born on 4 December 1996.”***Rute took a moment before she let a tear fall.

To understand.”***With professional detachment, the Spanish police informed Jota’s wife that she would have to go to the mortuary to collect his and his brother’s belongings.“I told the driver I wanted us to take the same route that they had taken. She waited in a room and they showed her, on the other side of a small window, Diogo’s body on a stretcher and André’s inside a box.