Jose Mourinho has brought an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota after the tragic death of the Liverpool star at the age of 28.
The former boss of Manchester United described his colleague Portuguese as a 'really nice guy' and said that Liverpool will now 'suffer' while they mourn one of them.
Jota and his brother Andre Silva, 26, died early on Thursday morning in a car accident in North Spain after a band on Jota's Lamborghini is supposed to have been blown out during catching up.
The vehicle rolled and bursting in flames, with emergency services unable to save the pair.
Their dead have sent shock waves through the football world, with a tribute that flows in from figures such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool -Baas Arne Slot, who described the attacker as 'very special'.
Now Mourinho has added his voice to the tribute, reminds his own experience to lose a young player in a car accident while working in Porto and hopes that Jota's memory Liverpool 'will give more soul' as a club.
Mourinho – who is now in charge of Fenerbahce in Turkey – said to Sky Sports: “When people leave this world, we normally all say 'such a nice guy'. Diogo was really a nice guy.
“He had my agent, so of course I knew a lot about him. And people in Liverpool know what I say where is. He is a child who was nothing easy for him, he had to fight to get where he arrived.
'Three children without a father, a young woman without her husband, the parents lose both sons … It's crazy. It's hard to understand. Maybe we will understand one day, but not now.
'It happened to me many, many years ago when I worked with MR at Porto [Bobby] Robson. One of our boys, a beloved boy, died in a car accident. Instead of the boys who suffer alone, it was as if the group suffered and tried to fight for his memory. It was a boy Rui Filipe and we were champions, I think, for him.
'In Liverpool they will suffer together. The club is a fantastic club. I think they decide to remove the shirt number 20. At Anfield he will always be part of the family and maybe they will lose a player, but maybe they win even more souls than what they have. '
Liverpool has indicated that the NO 20 shirt from Jota will be 'immersed' after his death, with discussions that take place on the formal retirement of a Squad number for the first time in the history of the club.
JOTA – The 65 goals scored 65 goals in 182 after he was affiliated with Wolves in 2020 – was just married to his childhood love Rute, the mother of their three children, less than two weeks before the crash.
The Portuguese attacker, closed by his country 49 times, was on his way back to Merseyside for training for the season, after he was advised to travel by road after recent pulmonary operation.
A Wake for Jota was held on Friday in the chapel of the resurrection in Gondomar, near Porto, for the funeral on Saturday morning.
Outside of Anfield, flowers and scarves have been tried, with fans in tears while they mourn one of their champions.
Liverpool Manager Slot said about Jota: 'Diogo was not just our player. He was a loved one for all of us.
“He was a teammate, a colleague, a colleague and in all those roles he was very special. Hard work, desire, dedication, great quality, goals. The essence of what a Liverpool player should be.
'The last time we spoke, I congratulated Diogo on winning the Nations League and wished him lucky for his upcoming wedding. In many ways it was a dream summer for Diogo and his family, making it all the more heartbreaking that it should end that way.
'My condolences go to Diogo's wife, RUTE, their three beautiful children and to the parents of Diogo and Andre Silva. When the time is ripe, we will celebrate Diogo Jota, we will remember his goals and we will sing his song.
'For the time being we will remember him as a unique person and mourn his loss. He will never be forgotten. '
Ronaldo, Jota's Portugal teammate, also expressed his destruction in the tragedy and wrote: 'It is not logical. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you were married.
'To your family, your wife and your children, I send my participation and I wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them.
'Rest in Peace, Diogo and Andre. We will all miss you. '
Jota's last Instagram -post only a few hours before the crash showed images of his wedding of RUTE, where the couple described it as a day that they would “never forget.”