Chelsea winger Pedro Neto led touching tributes to his friend and former teammate Diogo Jota in the Blues’ Cup World Cup clash with Palmeiras overnight.
Jota, 28, and his brother Andre were killed in a car accident in northwestern Spain in the early hours of Thursday morning when the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed after a tyre blew out.
A wake was held in Jota’s hometown of Gondomar on Friday with a funeral for the brothers to take place on Saturday morning.
There has been an outpouring of mourning for the Liverpool star with former captain Jordan Henderson among the thousands to leave flowers in his honour at Anfield.
Jota’s last game of football was helping Portugal win the Nations League just last month with some of his countrymen returning to action immediately after the tragic news broke.
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Chelsea winger Neto played alongside Jota at Wolves before the latter joined Liverpool and have been part of the Portugal set up together for a number of years.
Neto was given the option of sitting out of Chelsea’s Club World Cup quarter-final game against Palmeiras, which took place in Philadelphia overnight with the Blues progressing to the next round after a 2-1 win.
The 25-year-old, Chelsea’s top scorer in the competition started the game, playing 87 minutes.
As has been the case at every match since the tragic news broke, a minute’s silence was observed ahead of kick-off with Neto emerging from the tunnel holding a Chelsea shirt with the names of Diogo and Andre printed on the back.
Neto fought back tears during the moment of silence, holding the shirt aloft along with teammate Enzo Fernandez.
He went on to turn in a fine performance to help his side reach the semi-finals of the competition.
Two more of Jota’s countrymen in Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo were also in Club World Cup action on Friday with their side Al-Hilal beaten by Fluminense.
As a picture of Diogo and Andre was displayed on the big screen, the former Premier League stars were overcome with emotion, comforted by their teammates.
Jota’s Liverpool teammates have shared hugely emotional tributes to their teammate in recent days with the squad and manager Arne Slot arriving in Portugal to attend his funeral.