Man Utd star Diogo Dalot pays emotional tribute to team-mate Diogo Jota after tragic passing

Diogo Jota sadly passed away last month following a car crash with his death impacting the footballing world and Diogo Dalot has talked about his connection to his Portugal team-mate

Diogo Dalot has paid an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota and said his compatriot and friend will be “remembered forever”. Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed when the car in which they were travelling suffered a suspected tyre blow-out and crashed in northern Spain last month.

The pair were on their way to catch a ferry from Santander, with Jota set to return for pre-season training at Liverpool, when the tragedy happened on July 3. Manchester United defender Dalot was close to Portugal team-mate Jota and revealed the emotional toll his passing – and that of his brother – had taken on everyone who knew the 28-year-old.

“It’s tough to talk about it,” said Dalot. “It was a tough week for me, for every team-mate that played with him. I cannot imagine what the family went through.

“I had the opportunity to see them and it’s just tough. I don’t think there are any words to describe it when such a tragedy happens like that. It hits you.

“I felt that everybody, the whole world felt it, even if they didn’t know him personally. It’s just a tragedy.

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“I think every time, at least me, I go on the pitch, I try to – even today I saw shirts with his name on and I think he will be remembered forever.

“I think he deserves it because he was a great man, a great team-mate. Someone I would say was a role model for me because I always like to see a player’s behaviour when you play, when you don’t play.”

Dalot said Jota’s legacy of always putting others first will live on following his passing and said he will treasure the memories he made with his compatriot and team-mate. “He was always the guy that was thinking and putting the team first. So I will always remember him like that and hopefully he’s at peace now and resting where he is.

“He could have played for any team. When you’re talking about the personal side, I don’t look to the shirts that he represents.

“Obviously I played a lot of years with him in the national team and I spent some time with him in there and I think you create a connection, you create some memories and I think that’s what I want to keep, the good memories. I think it’s how I want to remember it.”

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