Diogo Jota’s widow Rute Cardoso pays heartbreaking tribute a month on from wedding – that came just days before crash
THE heartbroken widow of Diogo Jota has shared a touching tribute to her husband a month after their wedding.
Rute Cardoso, 28, posted a trio of images of the happy couple on their big day which came just 11 days before the Liverpool star’s tragic death.
The touching post read: “1 month of our ‘until death do us part’.
“For ever, your white girl.”
It was shared alongside a trio of moving pictures from the couple’s wedding.
One has them walking hand-in-hand with their wedding rings on show.
The other two appear to be taken from their first dance at the grand ceremony.
Jota, 28, can be seen with a beaming smile on his face as he lowers a smiling Rute.
Jota was reportedly heading to catch a ferry back to the UK when he died in a car crash alongside his brother at the start of July.
The Portuguese forward was driving through Zamora, Spain in a Lamborghini when his flat tyre suddenly burst and sent the car veering off the road.
His brother André Silva, 25, who played for Portuguese second-tier club Penafiel, was also in the car when it caught fire after crashing.
Jota was said to have been driving at the time, police believe.
The sporting world was left in shock after the crash.
Thousands paid their respects to the Premier League champion and Andre and sent their condolences to Rute and the children.
Jota had married his high school sweetheart less than two weeks before the fatal accident.
Just 20 hours before his death, Diogo and Rute shared a joint post on social media calling their wedding a “day we will never forget”.
Under one photo, Rute wrote, “My dream came true” — to which Diogo had replied: “But I’m the lucky one.”
The couple met at school as teenagers and had been together for 13 years.
They shared sons Dinis, four, and Duarte, two, and a baby girl.
The footballer had only just left his young family hours earlier after having lunch with them in a paradise Atlantic Ocean resort dubbed “the most beautiful land” in Portugal.
Rute had always described herself as Jota’s “number one fan” and was by his side throughout his career in Portugal, Spain and in England for both Liverpool and Wolves.
Distraught teammates of the forward and global football fans have all paid their respects in recent weeks to Jota.
Dozens arrived to his funeral in Portugal as flowers and kits adorned with the number 20 on the back were laid outside of Anfield.
Liverpool made the touching gesture to retire Jota’s shirt number throughout all their teams right across the club.
Manager Arne Slot welcomed the move, saying: “We will always carry him with us in our hearts, in our thoughts, wherever we go.
“Maybe especially in difficult moments but in any moment we are here, we will carry him with us in our thoughts and in our hearts.
“To retire his shirt is the one thing we could, should and have done.”
Slot’s team were initially scheduled to return for pre-season on Saturday July 5 – just two days after the crash.
His tragic passing postponed the initial plans with the team holding an emotional friendly against Preston a week after.
Before kick-off, a rendition of Liverpool’s poignant anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone ringed out around the ground.
A minute’s silence was observed in memory of Diogo and Andre, while digital tributes were displayed on the screen and across pitchside LEDs.
Both sets of players wore black armbands during the match as the Liverpool supporters’ amazing chant for Jota constantly rang around Deepdale.