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Crowds mourn Liverpool star Diogo Jota in his Portuguese hometown
BBC News
EPA / ShutterstockCrowds mourned Diogo Jota in his hometown to pay their respects to the Liverpool forward and his brother André Silva, who both died in a car crash on Thursday.
Portugal’s president, Liverpool and national team footballers, and fans gathered in the small town of Gondomar, on the outskirts of Porto, where the pair grew up.
Their parents, grandfather and other family members held a private vigil at a chapel in the town before it was opened to the public for a wake. The funeral will be held on Saturday.
The pair – both footballers, with André playing in Portugal’s second division – were killed after the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Fans carrying Portugal flags, flowers and other memorabilia were seen weeping as they queued to pay their respects.
Those in attendance included President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, national team stars Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, João Moutinho, Diogo Dalot and Ricardo Horta, and Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes.
Later in the day, Liverpool players and staff were seen in the town, including manager Arne Slot and captain Virgil Van Dijk. A number of Jota’s former teammates also attended.
For years as a young boy, Jota played for local club Gondomar SC, which named its academy after him in 2022.
Emblazoned on its sign is a quote from Jota: “It’s not about where we come from but where we’re going to.”
Outside the club, shirts and scarves were laid inside a ring of candles.
Getty ImagesThe 28-year-old father-of-three – who this year won the Nations League with Portugal and Premier League with Liverpool – married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso just 11 days before the fatal crash.
He had been travelling back to Liverpool for pre-season training, making the trip by car and ferry because he had undergone minor surgery and had been advised against flying.
Liverpool said his death was a “tragedy that transcends” the club.
Fans also grieved outside the club’s Anfield stadium.
Former captain Jordan Henderson was seen in tears as he laid a wreath, with a card that read: “Rest in peace my friend, along with your brother André. We will all miss you.”
There was also a touching moment at Oasis’s reunion gig on Friday evening when Jota’s image appeared on screen at the end of Live Forever, prompting applause around Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah admitted he was dreading returning to the club in the wake of Jota’s shock death.
“I am truly lost for words. Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break,” Salah wrote in a post on social media.
A delegation from Liverpool’s city rival club Everton – including Portugal-born strikers Beto and Youssef Chermiti – also attended and left flowers outside Anfield.
Former Liverpool councillor Peter Millea – a home and away regular who had come to pay his respects – told the BBC: “There was something about him as a player when he first came to us that he became an instant hit.
PA Media“He was one of those players you can easily take to, because of the manner in which he conducted himself on and off the pitch and the important goals he scored.”
Mr Millea said some fans at Anfield had broken into impromptu renditions of the chant while paying their respects.
“I’m sure we’ll hear it loud and clear at Wembley for the Community Shield and we’ll hear it at Preston for the first pre-season away game, you know it’ll be sung around the field against Athletic Bilbao and then during the course of the rest of the season and probably forever-more,” he said.
Elsewhere, fans left flowers, scarves and shirts outside Wolves’ Molineux Stadium, where Jota played prior to his move to Anfield.
At Wimbledon, Portuguese tennis player Francisco Cabral wore a black ribbon to mark the passing of his countrymen.
A minute’s silence was held in the Women’s Euro 2025 game between Denmark and Sweden.
Liverpool has cancelled pre-season fitness tests that were due to take place today for some players as a result of yesterday’s news. A phased return of training will now begin on Monday.
The funeral service will be held at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar in Sao Cosme in Gondomar at 10:00 on Saturday.
Ford on Wednesday rolled out a new advertising campaign that the company said will mark a “fundamental shift” in its branding strategy — and comes as the auto industry deals with major uncertainty.
The automaker’s new strategy, titled “Ready, Set, Ford,” goes beyond vehicle-first advertising, Ford said, and instead focuses on the people who buy its cars. It involves four fundamental promises: capability, passion, community and trust.
The auto industry is facing a crucial crossroads as companies deal with President Donald Trump‘s tariffs and an overall consumer pullback in spending. Despite uncertainty with various sectoral tariffs, Trump’s auto tariffs have remained more or less unchanged, with a 25% tariff charge on imported cars and auto parts.
That timing, Ford Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Materazzo said, is intentional.
“The auto industry is in the midst of historic disruption. We are fortunate in the sense that Ford has an incredible 122-year history to leverage,” she said. “So because of that, we felt like there’s no better time to double down on our commitment to our brand and our consumers than now.”
Materazzo said the company engaged in extensive research ahead of the rollout, finding a common theme of uncertainty and anxiety from consumers due to a range of factors, including the political climate and the economy.
“The other thing we found is that consumers are surprisingly optimistic and resilient, especially when they feel empowered, and they’re seeking brands that help them navigate this uncertainty,” she said.
Ford has long championed its American roots and declared it’s the “most American automaker.” That identity is now crucial to the automaker’s brand, Materazzo said, and builds on its “America for America” campaign that offered employee pricing to all consumers shortly after tariffs were initially announced.
The new strategy aims to leverage Ford’s iconic brand while simultaneously signaling that the car company is entering a new era, Materazzo said. It will unify all of Ford’s global brands for the first time in decades under the new campaign, allowing the company to “represent ourselves very consistently around the globe,” she added.
“By Q1 of 2026, all of our global markets will be in market with ‘Ready, Set, Ford,'” Materazzo said. “The majority of them will do that by Q4 of this year.”
The first rollout of the ad is kicking off in conjunction with this week’s Thursday Night Football game, as the automaker aligns itself with the NFL season, one of the largest moneymakers for advertisements leading up to the Super Bowl.
During the Covid pandemic, the auto industry pulled back significantly on advertising and marketing budgets as it dealt with supply chain issues left companies without enough vehicles to sell. Many automakers returned to advertising during the NFL season last year as vehicle inventory levels returned to more normal levels.
Even as the macroenvironment signals uncertainty, Materazzo said the company is focused on continuing to deliver on its legacy and invest in its brand.
“The industry is in the middle of a transition right now. I don’t think all brands will survive, but I think those that not just survive, but thrive, will be the ones who recognize that one of their most valuable assets is their brand,” she said. “And if you don’t invest in your brand, you’re really disadvantaging your business for the long term.”
Strawweights Carol Foro and Shanelle Dyer kicked things off with a fight that brought Dana White into the Octagon to congratulate both athletes, with Foro coming away with the victory. From there, the finishes just started rolling, as Samuel Sanches stopped Chasen Blair and Freddy Vidal snatched a submission in the final minute of his fight with Felipe Franco before Lerryan Douglas detonated a left hook on the chin of Cam Teague. And then, to close out the night, Steven Asplund needed just 16 seconds to dispatch Anthony Guarascio to close out the evening.
After brief deliberations, White emerged to announce the new additions to the UFC roster, awarding contracts to both Foro and Dyer, Sanches, Douglas, and Asplund while also announcing that Vidal would get another opportunity to compete on the final episode of the season.
Platinum-selling artist D4vd is “cooperating” with authorities after a horrible stench led police to a rotting corpse hidden in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer and impounded at a Los Angeles tow yard, sources tell Rolling Stone.
One source confirmed D4vd was aware of and coordinating with the police investigation, while a law enforcement official separately confirmed the Tesla with Texas license plates was registered to David Anthony Burke, which is the singer’s real name.
In a report posted online Tuesday night, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said the victim was a female with wavy black hair who was “severely decomposed.” She had a distinct tattoo on her right index finger that read, “Shhh,” the report said.
“She appears to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found. We are unable to determine her age or race/ethnicity. The decedent was wearing a tube top and black leggings (size small),” the report said. She was wearing yellow metal stud earrings and a yellow metal chain bracelet.
Burke, who is currently on tour, performed in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday. He was still set to perform in Minneapolis on Tuesday night, Sept. 9. A representative for the Fillmore in Minneapolis told Rolling Stone the show “is happening.”
According to the Los Angeles police, the body was discovered Monday afternoon after officers responded to a call about a “foul odor coming from a vehicle” at the tow yard in Hollywood. “Detectives responded and located possible human remains,” an LAPD spokesman said. “It is currently a death investigation.”
Police sources said the car had been abandoned for at least five days. It was towed from the upscale Bird Streets neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills.
A source told the Los Angeles Times that the remains were a “head and torso” contained in a bag inside the trunk. KTLA first reported that the remains were so badly decomposed, investigators could not make out the person’s gender.
On Tuesday, the fashion companies Crocs and Hollister said they were pulling back on a campaign that featured D4vd modeling a “Dream Drop” collaboration between the popular brands. “We are aware of this developing story. With respect to the current situation, we have removed campaign content featuring D4vd while the investigation continues,” the brands said in a joint statement sent to Footwear News.
Burke, as D4vd, released his debut album, Withered, back in April. He broke through in 2022 with singles “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me,” which garnered significant traction on TikTok. He released his debut EP, Petals to Thorns, in May 2023, then followed it up a few months later with The Lost Petals.
Burked launched his current tour back in August. He has North American dates scheduled through the end of this month, with his last show currently slated for Sept. 20 in Los Angeles. A tour of Europe, the U.K., and Ireland is supposed to follow in October and November.
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