LeBron James sent his prayers to the family of Diogo Jota after the heartbreaking death of the Liverpool -football player at the age of 28 -.
Jota, who won the Premier League title with Liverpool last season, and his younger brother Andre, 26, were tragically killed in a car accident near Zamora in northwestern Spain, close to the border with Portugal, early on Thursday morning.
The Portuguese attacker traveled in his Lamborghini with Andre, also a professional football player, when one of the tires would have been blown out and sent the Supercar off the road.
After rolling, the Lamborghini then bursts in flames around 12.35. The emergency services were called, but the brothers could not be saved. The police say they do not yet know who was driving.
The football world is startled by the devastating news, with a tribute that comes in for Diogo, who only married the mother of his three children two weeks ago, and Andre on Thursday after their tragic death.
And LeBron, who has been partly the owner of Liverpool Football Club since 2011, has offered his condolences to the Jota family while paying his respect on social media.
The basketball legend wrote on X: 'My prayers go out to his loved ones in this time! Can you all be led and protected! Ynwa [You’ll Never Walk Alone] Jota !! '
Jota was just married to Rute Cardoso, the 28-year-old mother of his three children and partner since the age of 16.
The Premier League winner had described herself as the happiest man in the world to be her husband, in which he was shared moving images of their wedding day in his last Instagram post on Wednesday afternoon.
Liverpool FC said in a statement that the club was 'destroyed' by the tragedy and that the family of Diogo, friends and fans had suffered an 'unimaginable loss'. Flowers and tribute are placed outside their Anfield stage today, with many fans in tears.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Jota's friend and teammate and the biggest player in Portugal, said today: 'It makes no sense. Just now we were together for the national team, you were just married.
'To your family, to your wife and children, I send my participation and I wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them. TEAR. Diogo and Andre. We will all miss you '.
Jota was part of Liverpool's Premier League-winning side in the 2024/25 campaign and scored six goals in 26 performances. He also played for the national team of Portugal and helped to win the Nations League last month in an extraordinary victory over Rivals Spain over penalties.
His younger brother played for Penafiel, in the second level of Portuguese football.
According to CNN Portugal, Diogo drove through North Spain from Portugal to catch a ferry to the UK after he was advised not to fly after a recent operation.
Allegedly, doctors told the Liverpool star that he would not have to catch an airplane after the operation, so he went instead to get a ferry.
Liverpool will start training for the season on Monday, so the player went back to the UK only two weeks after getting married to his childhood love.