Ruben Neves has revealed that he still sends messages to Diogo Jota, nearly a year after the Liverpool star's tragic death in a car crash. Jota, 28, lost his life on July 3, 2025, when his Lamborghini crashed in Zamora, Spain, also killing his brother Andre Silva.
Speaking on SIC's Alta Definição, Neves, 29, said: "I still talk to him. Few people know this. We have a WhatsApp group with Rute (Jota's widow) and Diogo, and it's still there, and we continue to talk there. Whenever something special happens, I have the conversations archived on my WhatsApp so I can continue to send him messages."
Grief and Remembrance
Neves, who played with Jota at Porto, Wolves, and the Portuguese national team, described the day after learning of Jota's death as "the most difficult day" of his life. A funeral was held in Gondomar, Portugal, with many former teammates attending.
Jota's widow, Rute Cardoso, marked their wedding anniversary on June 22 by sharing the speech Jota gave at their wedding on Instagram. In the clip, Jota said: "Where the future takes us, maybe there's someone here who knows better than I do. But the truth is, I don't know and it doesn't really matter to me as long as I'm with you. I love you forever, my 'Branquinha.'"
Portugal's World Cup Tribute
Portugal is honoring Jota at the 2026 World Cup in North America with commemorative wristbands featuring the names of all 26 squad members plus Jota's. The wristbands were presented by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
PSG midfielder Vitinha explained: "Basically, the story of the wristband is, when we went to meet with the Prime Minister, he offered us this wristband. They made sure that it was a wristband that we could wear on the pitch. It has all the specifics for us to be able to enter the pitch with it, with the name of all the players plus the special name of Diogo Jota. He let us choose if we wanted to use it or not, how (we use it), during the day or during the match. We received it with a lot of affection and we chose to use it."
Portugal opened their World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against DR Congo and a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan. They face Colombia next in Group K.
