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Funeral Today for Football Brothers Diogo Jota and Andre Silva; At Least 24 Dead, over 20 Missing in Texas Floods; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Discussed Air Defenses in Call with Trump. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired July 05, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The football world is saying goodbye to star Portuguese player Diogo Jota, as he's laid to rest in his home country. Hear how fans in Portugal and England are remembering him.
Desperate search efforts are underway in Texas as more than 20 children remain missing following dangerous flooding. We'll have a report from the flood-ravaged area.
And hope for a ceasefire in Gaza is growing. We'll break down what's in the proposed deal that's gotten positive responses from both sides.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: First, we begin with the funeral for a Liverpool star, Diogo Jota, and his brother, fellow pro footballer Andre Silva.
It's scheduled to begin next hour and will be held in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal, where Friday's wake also took place. The athletes were killed in a car accident in northwestern Spain on Thursday. Their parents were among mourners who turned out for the wake to remember the brothers.
Police are investigating the crash as a possible speeding incident. They suspect the vehicle's tire burst while changing lanes, causing the Lamborghini to veer off-road before catching fire.
The 28-year old leaves behind his three children and his wife, who he'd married just two weeks before the accident. A memorial has grown outside Liverpool's Anfield Stadium as fans gather to offer their condolences.
Jota cemented his legacy with the club following his role in Liverpool's 2025 Premier League title. He also helped Portugal win this year's Nations League, as he did in 2019.
All right. Joining me now live from Liverpool, England is CNN's Matias Grez.
Just such a tragic event.
How are people there in Liverpool mourning this terrible loss?
MATIAS GREZ, CNN PORTUGAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm sure, as you can imagine, Kim, the grief here is still very raw 48 hours later. And if I just stand to the side for a moment, I'll let you look at the incredible number of tributes that have been laid here outside of Anfield for Diogo Jota.
This grass verge behind me runs for well over 100 meters outside of Anfield's main stand. And as you can see, it's full and overflowing with tributes. Just 48 hours after the sad news broke, there are scarves, football shirts, handwritten notes. And among the tributes, flowers laid here yesterday by former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
But it's not just here in Liverpool where tributes are being paid. Down in London, at Wimbledon yesterday, the Portuguese tennis players wore black ribbons in tribute to Jota. There were minutes silence ahead of soccer matches at the club World Cup in the U.S. and the women's Euros in Switzerland.
And even British band Oasis played a tribute song to Jota on the first step of their reunion tour yesterday. And our hotel manager told us this morning that he has spoken to fans over these last two days who have flown in from all over the world just to come here to Anfield to pay their respects to Jota.
BRUNHUBER: Wow. And as I mentioned earlier, Jota had just gotten married two weeks ago and he won the Premier League this season.
I mean, how does the timing of this tragedy make it just even more devastating for the football community?
GREZ: Well, you summed it up perfectly. He was on top of the world. He just won professionally. He just won the Nations League for a second time with Portugal, had just won the Premier League with Liverpool, his fourth major trophy with the club in his five years here.
And like you said, just married 13 days ago, just married his childhood sweetheart and the mother of his three young children. And you know, as football fans, we often get stressed that our teams results, we get annoyed and angry at managers and players when they don't live up to our expectations.
But I think when you're here and you see the young families that have come to pay their respects, football on days like today just doesn't matter. And it really makes you realize the things that are important in life.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. All right. Matias, thank you so much.
Now for more on this, I'm joined live now by Neil Atkinson. He's the host of the podcast, "The Anfield Wrap," in Liverpool.
I was listening to your podcast in the wake of this and you described the feeling there as just being numb.
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In the day that's unfolded now and you've had time to digest this and you've heard from so many people, both in Liverpool and around the world, I mean, tell me about there.
How has the Liverpool fan base reacted to this tragedy and what have you seen at Anfield since the news broke?
NEIL ATKINSON, PODCAST HOST, "THE ANFIELD WRAP": The numbness, I think, was because it, you know, the level of shock is hard to put into words. And I think that that was something which hit across the entire Liverpool support community.
You know, that's a worldwide community as your correspondent just said, the idea of people flying in doesn't surprise me. People flew in for the parade. People fly in for games. And people will want to feel as though they can be close to the club in these moments as well and to pay their respects.
I think the numbness, therefore, is part of this is, you know, I think it is because it is such a shock. We view the footballers in so many ways as almost being like superheroes. I know a couple of friends who found it exceptionally difficult to explain.
And then comfort young or youngish children because this is -- this is the thing that is just simply not supposed to happen. Footballers are almost meant to be invincible. All of our sports stars are, in a way. That's the way in which we view them.
But with Jota himself, the public persona of him -- and we need to be careful here. I suspect the public persona and the private persona aren't that different from what we've seen with the tributes. But we predominantly only really get to see what they put out on the pitch.
Occasionally bits on social media or a little snippets of interviews but the public persona of them has quite an intense footballer, a very snappy footballer, one who was instinctively brilliant around space.
I think all of that even adds further to the to the shock and the numbness that's hit. Former players, players who've retired, they're the players who are meant to get ill, they're the players who you're meant to hear things about.
They're the players who ultimately, because life comes to all of us, they're the players who pass away. Current players, this just doesn't happen. And ones who are in such a such a vibrant moment as this.
And I think that the whole football community, not just Liverpool but the Liverpool supporting community, has been shocked. And then with the added personal tragedy for the entirety of the family, not least with his brother passing away as well, as you said, was also a footballer. It is so deeply, deeply upsetting for everyone.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. So much still to look forward to, both personally and professionally. You talked about his persona there. I want to dig into that a bit more because, as we're seeing from this overwhelming reaction, he seemed like just a -- just an incredible character.
What do you think set it apart in terms of his character and his personality?
ATKINSON: So some footballers, you know, said before about the idea of them being superheroes. But some footballers just come over like magicians. Some footballers just come over like, you know, Leo Messi is just quite clearly an astonishingly, truly, deeply gifted footballer.
Jota, whilst obviously being, you know, incredibly talented to have reached the level that he reached, a lot of what he was about was he would show that brilliance in moments. He'd show it in flashes, you know. He would show it in a second or two and then a lot of the rest of his game was about hard work and commitment for the cause.
And then if the opportunity was there, he'd jump on it quick as a flash. And I think that that endeared him to people in a way that, as I say, relentless brilliance. It sounds an odd thing to say. But it can almost be a little bit distant and simultaneously, obviously, players who don't you don't feel as though are constantly engaged or working hard.
That can be a little bit different as well. So he managed to combine that idea of being a bit of a mercurial player. His last goal for the club comes against Everton, at a point where Liverpool really needed a goal.
And he ends up, the ball's bouncing around loose but he gets it under control and suddenly using his low center of gravity, he's gone past two. And then he sends the keeper the wrong way. All of that is very -- is very Diogo Jota.
But up to that point in the game, he hadn't been particularly involved. He hadn't been particularly prominent but he'd been working all the way through. So I think that, you know, often mercurial footballers, ones who appear in moments, they feel a little bit like a luxury.
But that was never Diogo Jota. So it's this combination, I think, of sheer work ethic, allied with the brilliance and then a general charisma. You know, he spoke so warmly about the city of Liverpool, the people of Liverpool.
One of the last things on social media is him on the bus or his point of view on the bus, going around the parade and him praising it so much. The next thing down on his social media is him singing his own song,
along with the along with the club (ph) after Liverpool have been given the league trophy. You know, he managed to combine a lot of feeling like a football supporter whilst also being a football player.
And I think that's part of why people connected to him.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
ATKINSON: Along with obviously the feelings and the aftermath of the tragedy.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. I mean, you talked about him playing in flashes. Unfortunately, too many of his flashes of brilliance came at the expense of my team, Arsenal.
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And he, in fact, spoke about how his favorite goal that he ever scored was against Arsenal.
But despite that, I mean, I've had so many players who have who have bedeviled my team that I've just really I couldn't stand them. And Diogo Jota was never one of those people because of that charisma that you talked about.
I mean, he was he was impossible to hate. So many people, even those who played against him, still really liked him.
ATKINSON: Yes. There was a tribute from Brazilian footballer Richarlison, who played for Tottenham. And Richarlison scored an equalizer at Anfield in the 90th minute to make it 3-3. Liverpool have been 3-0 up. And Tottenham got themselves back into the game.
Richarlison, who played for Everton as well. Our rivals made it 3-3. And then within 30 seconds of the restart, the ball had broken to Diogo Jota, wide in the penalty area. And he drilled it low past the Tottenham keeper to make it 4-3.
I put that out there because the point is that Richarlison was one of the first to put out a very personal and emotional tribute to Diogo Jota. It would be easy, you would think, to come off that pitch at that moment with at least a degree of bitterness.
But the relationship obviously that Jota had with so many of his peers was as someone who loved the game. And part of the game is that you win and part of the game is that you lose and part of the game is that unlikely things happen.
And Jota, I think, epitomized a fair bit of that for his fellow professionals. And, you know, there's been so many tributes, not just from teammates but from his fellow professionals or not just from current teammates but Portuguese teammates.
The one from Ruben Neves was immensely affecting. The one from Andy Robertson was immensely affecting. But so many of them were about the character. The footballers themselves have spoken repeatedly about the character of the person.
They've not spoken about the football, they've not they've not focused in on that. They've focused in on what quality he had, as someone to spend time with. And I think that that is -- you know, one of my colleagues at "The Anfield Wrap" was fortunate enough to interview him about three or four years ago.
And he just couldn't believe how unbelievably normal he was but also how much he was just able to speak away on the same level as Jota was. He spoke about that on one of our shows that we've done, where we've discussed, you know, Jota's legacy.
And part of what he was saying was he just got into the room. And there he was and he was just pleased to see him and chat away and spoke about things in a non-football, media-managed way, spoke about wanting to represent the club the right way and did so completely organically.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's hard to think that in just a few weeks, football will start up again and he won't be there. Really --
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ATKINSON: Yes, football --
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
Your last thoughts?
ATKINSON: Football, yes. Football doesn't stop. And there's times, trust me, where I wish it did. But football, you know -- Shankly once referred to it negatively, I hasten to add, as an ever-flowing river. Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool manager.
And football doesn't stop and, you know, the players being at the funeral service, for me, I think it's a huge thing. I think it's a positive thing because not only are they going to have to play a game in a few weeks, a competitive game, they also need to get themselves back into a position where they'd want to train.
But also, you know, part of what football -- and all games are for us, a part of how we understand life and the human condition.
You know, it's it can feel trite to say that, you know, I've always liked the line that football is the most important of the least important things. And that feels the case right now.
But at some point, the game, the game from a Liverpool point of view, from a Portugal point of view, the game, the game will come back. It does come back. And it's been there for us, as supporters a lot of the time, when we've needed it, when we've lost family members. So now it needs to be there for the footballers.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's a great point. We'll end on that. Really appreciate getting your insights into all of this. Neil Atkinson in Liverpool, appreciate that. We're following a devastating situation that could get worse in
central Texas, where 24 people are dead and at least 23 children are unaccounted for after severe flooding hit the area. Teams are on the ground there right now and will continue searching through the weekend for the missing.
The children were at a summer camp when the heavy rains submerged the area, turning a river into a torrent. A disaster declaration has been issued for some of the hardest-hit counties, as more than 230 people have been rescued or evacuated from their homes.
U.S. President Donald Trump called the flooding terrible while pledging the government's support. As you can imagine, parents are anxiously waiting at a relocation center in Ingram, Texas, hoping to be reunited with their kids.
Governor Greg Abbott briefed the public on Friday about the ongoing search and rescue efforts.
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GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Most importantly, we will stop at nothing to ensure that every asset and person and plane and whatever is needed is going to be involved in the process of rescuing every last person and ensure everybody involved in this is going to be fully accounted for.
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BRUNHUBER: The camp sits next to a river near Kerrville, Texas, which, according to forecasters, rose more than 20 feet or six meters in 90 minutes.
President Donald Trump takes a victory lap at the White House Friday, signing his domestic megabill into law during a 4th of July holiday event that featured fireworks and military flyovers. We'll have that story when we come back. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The funeral for Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, is scheduled to start just about 45 minutes from now. It's taking place in Gondomar, Portugal. In addition to family, friends and gathering fans, Jota's Liverpool teammates have traveled to Portugal to pay their respects.
The brothers were driving in Spain when their car crashed. Jota was on his way to Liverpool for preseason training. He planned to take a ferry to England from Spain because he'd been advised not to fly following surgery. President Donald Trump signed his domestic megabill into law Friday
during a 4th of July event at the White House, complete with fireworks and a military flyover. The measure boosts funding for immigration enforcement and national defense while making the 2017 tax cuts permanent and creating new tax cuts.
It also makes deep cuts to Medicaid, eliminates green energy subsidies and adds more than $3 trillion to the deficit. Trump called the bill's passage a campaign promise kept.
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TRUMP: It's really promises made, promises kept and we've kept them. This is a triumph of democracy on the birthday of democracy. This is the most single, most popular bill ever signed.
And it includes the largest tax cut in American history, the largest spending cut, $1.7 trillion. And yet you won't even notice it. Just waste, fraud and abuse.
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BRUNHUBER: Poll after poll has found the bill to be wildly unpopular. In fact, according to George Washington University, it's actually more unpopular than any piece of major legislation passed since 1990.
President Trump says the United States is considering Ukraine's request for more Patriot missile defense systems. That comes after what Trump says was a very good phone call on Friday with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The two spoke just hours after Russia launched a record number of attack drones at Ukraine, in a day after Trump said he didn't make any progress toward a ceasefire during his phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy says he and Trump discussed opportunities for both countries to work together on security.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It was an important conversation. We agreed to arrange a meeting between our teams to strengthen air defense capabilities.
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We had an in-depth discussion about joint production, something both us and the United States need.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Donald Trump says he's optimistic that a Gaza ceasefire agreement could be reached next week. He spoke Friday night after Hamas gave what it called a positive response to the ceasefire proposal. The militant group also said it's ready to start implementation talks right away. But inside Gaza, at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on
Friday, according to local health officials. The targets included a tent city for Palestinians who had to flee their homes because of the fighting. Oren Liebermann has more on the details of the U.S. ceasefire plan.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: Late Friday night, local time, Hamas issued an official statement, a response to the latest offer put forward by Qatar earlier this week. That response a positive one, according to that statement. I'll read you a part of it.
It said, "The movement that is Hamas has delivered its response to the brothers mediating, which was characterized as positive. The movement is fully ready and serious about immediately entering a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework."
According to a Palestinian American official directly in touch with Hamas about this latest effort, Hamas has asked for some adjustments to the language here. But that official says it's not expected to derail the efforts.
Similarly, an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations said Israel was expecting a positive response and some tweaks to the language. Again, not expected to derail this effort.
And we have seen widespread expectations that this is the closest Israel and Hamas have been to a ceasefire in six months since the last one went into effect on January 19th.
And then there was the expectation that this would proceed. Qatar put forward the latest proposal earlier this week. Israel responded positively on Tuesday, saying they had accepted the framework.
And now we're at this point, it does not mean a ceasefire is about to start. The next stage would be what are called proximity talks, where negotiators, likely in Cairo or in Doha, go back and forth between Israel and Hamas to hammer out the final details of the negotiations.
That's what Hamas is referring to when they say negotiations about the framework of this deal.
Broadly speaking, what we're looking at is not that different from the proposal that was on the table over the course of the last several months; 60-day ceasefire, 10 living hostages released, 18 deceased hostages and an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released.
The key here is that the release of hostages will be spread out over that 60 days. Eight on the first day, two more hostages will be released on the 50th day and then the deceased hostages again will be spread out over those 60 days.
Israel and Hamas, according to the agreement, will immediately enter negotiations to try to get to a permanent ceasefire. That was a key demand here.
And if there is no agreement on a permanent ceasefire by the end of that 60-day period, then there are stipulations in here that the ceasefire continues and that president Donald Trump himself will try to hold the parties to the ceasefire, to try to get to a comprehensive end of the war. That was a key demand of Hamas.
Additionally, on day one, Israeli troops will begin repositioning and withdrawing from certain positions in northern Gaza. A week later, they'll withdraw from parts of southern Gaza. All as this ceasefire moves forward if we get to that point.
And then on day one, more aid will go in, not only under the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation but through the U.N. mechanism and others as well, to try to get as much aid to the Gazan population as quickly as possible -- Oren Liebermann, CNN in Jerusalem.
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BRUNHUBER: We return now with an update for football star Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva. Today's service is set to begin at the top of the hour at a local church in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal.
Mourners have already begun gathering to pay their respects. The athletes were killed in a car crash on Thursday in northern Spain. Officials believe a blown tire caused the brothers to ultimately lose control of the Lamborghini. The incident remains under investigation at this time.
Residents across much of Europe are struggling to cope with soaring summer temperatures. In Italy alone, 15 cities remain on high alert as a result of the heat. In Greece, wildfires are devastating the countryside. CNN's Anna Stewart reports.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Charred hillsides mark the destructive path of wildfires in Crete. Firefighters unable to save an olive grove from the flames they'd been battling for days. High winds and dry conditions agitated the blazes across the Greek island, making them difficult to extinguish.
Fire officials say they have contained the fires but are now on alert for new hotspots to flare up. About 1,500 tourists and residents were evacuated from the region. But the owner of the olive grove says he stayed behind to save his home but lost much of everything else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The damages are incalculable in every way, from the water-drilling equipment, the pipes, the tires, the cars, the cement mixer.
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STEWART (voice-over): Another pitched battle is underway in western Turkiye, where whipping wildfires tore through coastal forests, powered by high-shifting winds. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the coastal region. Firefighters say they are making some gains on the blazes.
The wildfires raging as many countries in Europe come off a brutally hot week with temperatures topping 45 degrees Celsius in some places. Experts say climate change is causing heat waves to be more frequent, intense and long lasting, with Europe particularly at risk.
The U.N. says it's the fastest warming continent on the planet. And, of course, the hotter the air, the drier the ground can get.
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ERICH FISCHER, ETH ZURICH CLIMATE SCIENTIST: And that just means that this vegetation becomes easier to ignite, easier to burn. And that basically makes it easier for wildfires to spread.
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STEWART (voice-over): Greece is deploying a record number of firefighters this summer and nearly doubling its drone fleet to combat the increasingly busy wildfire season. More resources for a growing threat that this olive farmer in Crete knows all too well -- Anna Stewart, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: And we'll be back with more here on CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. We return now with an update on the funeral for football star Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva.
Mourners have been arriving for the service, set to begin at the top of the hour at a local church in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal. The athletes were killed in a car crash on Thursday in northern Spain. Officials believe a blown tire caused the brothers to ultimately lose control of their Lamborghini. The incident remains under investigation. For more on this, I want to bring in CNN Portugal journalist Nuno de
Sousa Moreira and he joins us live from outside the church in Gondomar.
So you've been there watching this. Give us a sense of what you're seeing there as so many gather to mourn this tragic loss.
NUNO DE SOUSA MOREIRA, CNN PORTUGAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
Of course.
Hi, Kim. Hi, everyone.
Right now, these are the toughest hours that we are living here in the city center of Gondomar, where the both brothers grew up. And this community it's united in this sense of grief and loss and sorrow.
It's the church behind me that will be part of this funeral. And the people are all gathering around the church. A small square already, because there are hundreds of personalities from the world of soccer.
But all animals, all the animals, (ph) people that want to be part and to pay respects to Andre Silva and Diogo Jota that lost their lives in that car crash accident tragically, a couple of days ago in Zamora province in the north of Spain.
Duke de Wall (ph) from the Manchester United; Bernardo du la Silva from Manchester City; Pedro Goncalves, former Diogo's teammate from Wolverhampton; Darwin Nunez, for example, and Virgil van Dijk, teammates from Liverpool, have been here in this church yesterday.
And certainly will come back today for a pray (ph) respecting this funeral and say goodbye to both brothers.
Roberto Martinez, the principal head (ph) coach for the Portuguese national team, which -- and that gave the -- all the respects in the last two days. And one of the first personality to arrive this morning was, of course, Roberto Martinez.
As I said, we are now getting close to the start of this funeral and the sense of grief is getting even bigger.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, as you say, as you were speaking there, we saw dozens of people filing into the church as this is about to start shortly. And just such a sense of loss around the entire soccer community from around the world, as we're seeing more and more people filing into the church there.
Really appreciate your report, Nuno de Sousa Moreira, thank you so much.
And for more on all of this, I want to go now to Liverpool, England, where we join CNN's Matias Grez.
And Matias, we can see behind you there, as we show in the other screen, Portugal. But the fact that this is being felt so far away there in Liverpool, so many flowers behind you, take us through how people there in Liverpool are feeling this moment right now.
GREZ: Well, Kim, just as it is in Portugal, I'm sure you can imagine the grief here is still very raw, 48 hours after the sad news broke.
And you mentioned the tributes behind me, I'll just stand to the side for a moment so you can see the incredible number of tributes that have been laid here outside of Anfield Stadium for Diogo Jota: scarves, flags, handwritten notes and, among them, flowers laid down yesterday by Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who came to pay his respects. And this grass verge behind me runs for well over 100 meters outside of Anfield's main stand here in Liverpool.
And as you can see, it's almost completely full and overflowing with tributes. But it's not just here in Liverpool, where tributes are being paid down. In London yesterday, Portuguese tennis players wore black ribbons in Diogo Jota's honor.
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There were many silences ahead of matches at the club World Cup in the U.S. and women's Euros in Switzerland.
And even British band Oasis. They dedicated their song "Live Forever" to Diogo Jota on the first stage of their reunion tour. So I think that just goes to show you how well loved and respected Jota was, not only here in Liverpool but around the world.
BRUNHUBER: And Matias, I mean, it's maybe early to think about this.
But as we think about his life and everything he's done there in Liverpool, what legacy do you think Jota leaves behind?
GREZ: Well, of course, it was his success on the pitch here that so endeared him to the fans. In five seasons at Liverpool, he scored 65 goals and won four major trophies, including that recent Premier League triumph.
But speaking to fans here, you get a sense that it was more Diogo Jota, the person, that really resonated with fans; a family man, a hard-working man from humble origins and I think the fans here saw a lot of themselves in him.
And, of course, at this moment in time he was on top of the world professionally and personally. When this happened only 12 days ago, marrying his childhood sweetheart and the mother of his three young children.
And like I mentioned on the pitch, winning that Premier League with Liverpool and also the Nations League with Portugal, which, of course, only makes the timing of his passing all the more tragic.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And on the pitch, I'm just curious; for people who never saw him play, how would you describe his style and sort of, you know, his -- the way that he played the game? Because he was quite a unique player.
GREZ: Very versatile absolutely.
And when you speak to fans here and you read the tributes from former players and managers, there's one thing that comes up more often than anything else. And that's Diogo Jota's smile.
This was a man with an infectious personality, who always wore a broad grin. And that's how he played on the pitch. He wasn't always a starter for Liverpool. He often came off the bench. But he wasn't a player that ever complained.
Every time he stepped onto the pitch, he gave absolutely everything for the shirt and he became known for match-winning performances coming off the substitute bench.
And even speaking or reading the former -- the tributes from former teammates and former managers, the word "teammate" or the word "player" doesn't come up very often when they're talking about Jota. Instead, they all refer to him as a brother.
That's in the -- that's in Liverpool and in the Portuguese national team. So I think that just goes to show you how much he touched the lives of those around him when he was playing football.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right. So Matias Grez, thank you so much.
We'll be right back with more on the funeral of football player Diogo Jota when we come back.
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BRUNHUBER: And we return to our coverage of the funeral of Diogo Jota. I want to go now to Liverpool, where I'm joined by Neil Atkinson, who's the host of the podcast, "The Anfield Wrap."
Thanks so much for coming back with us. As we're watching these live pictures of players filing by, going into the church for the funeral, I was listening to your podcast in the wake of this tragedy.
And you -- your first words were about the family, I understand.
ATKINSON: Yes.
BRUNHUBER: You know, there were the three, you know, three children he leaves behind, born in Liverpool.
Is that right?
What more can you tell us about his family and the connection that they all had to the city and the club?
ATKINSON: There was an image at the end of the season which I'd seen prior to yesterday but which obviously -- or two days ago -- but which obviously very much resonated, which was him, Diogo, with his two parents, his wife now -- now wife, Rute, and their three children, all gathered around the Premier League trophy.
So it was on the pitch at Liverpool after the day that the trophy was handed over, which was at the end of May. And within the context of that, you know, it was just a reminder of the extent to which these journeys that all professional athletes, both male and female, go on.
They have a support network around them. And that support network is often a coach or something like that but always or very consistently it's family members.
And the genuine, unspeakable human sadness of this, I feel, the thing I just can't get out of my mind is -- are those parents having lost both sons in the same incident at the same time.
I you know, I think it's unspeakably sad, that idea. And then I think it's -- whilst obviously I know far more and have experienced and been in the same place, as if not ever necessarily met, often 30-40 yards away but the same place as Diogo Jota on many occasions.
You know, Andre Silva, whilst not at this point, at that point anyway, is accomplished a footballer as his brother was, still also an elite professional footballer in Portugal. And, you know his -- whilst understandably, I hasten to add, we're talking about the cameras of the world are trained on the Liverpool squad.
There's a squad of players at Penafiel, who have also -- the coach of Penafiel has also spoken in similar terms of Diego's brother, Andre. And you know, Rute has not just lost a husband but she's lost a brother-in-law. The three children haven't just lost a father but they've lost an uncle.
The, you know, the damage that this has done to this family is -- and the grief that, you know, will never be shaken off, I think, is one -- another one of the reasons why I think this has resonated globally, both inside and outside of the world of football.
Because we all understand that almost, you know, biblical depth of sadness in the context of this. It feels -- it hits home in a very, very specific way. And I think that, you know, the funeral and the services, it's important.
It's important for us to remember that, you know, for Liverpool supporters, I mean, to remember that, yes, there's -- are deep sadness and grief. But there's a much more intense personal sadness and grief that will never, ever leave that family now.
And this funeral today, you know, these services, they're very much for them. I hope there's some connection made between Liverpool and Penafiel at some point across the next few days and weeks. I hope there'll be some form of memorial service in Penafiel for Andre
and in Liverpool for Diogo of some way, shape or form that that can be shown. There's already a condolence book at Anfield.
But today is, first and foremost, yesterday, the vigil; first and foremost is about those families, that family -- sorry. And the ramification of all of that upon them. And them seeing and being able to see professionally, personally, as was said before by Matias, the idea that these footballers viewed Diogo and Andre as a brother.
And not just as a teammate, then being able to see that and maybe take some comfort from it. But I think we can all say with certainty it's going to be a long, long road ahead.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely.
And you speak of his parents. I mean, they would have been so involved in both of their children's journeys to being a football player. And for Diogo, I mean, I understand there were some questions about whether he'd be a professional football player, never mind one with such a huge club like Liverpool.
[04:45:00]
ATKINSON: Yes, there's something that the oddness, one of the oddnesses of the side that was first assembled by Jurgen Klopp from 2015-16 onwards is a number of the footballers all had slightly more checkered pasts than footballers who now come through an academy system.
Which is a little bit closer to what, you know, some of your international audience might understand, almost as an American college system.
You know, a lot of these footballers, there's -- Andy Robertson at one point on social media, worrying about whether or not he's going to get a job. And Diogo was, you know, has spoken on record about having similar concerns about his life and his career at the age of 16.
And in the end, has won, you know, a big part of the biggest competitions, the biggest prizes in the game. And there's a couple of other examples through that Liverpool squad that was assembled.
And this is part of the reason, I think, why there is a real sense of togetherness. There was a lovely photograph of Diogo Jota spending the day at Cheltenham races with Andy Robertson, Caoimhin Kelleher, Conor Bradley.
And the sense of just looking at the picture, they don't look like footballers. And I genuinely mean that as a compliment. And the -- with a lot of Liverpool's support staff, not other fellow footballers, but some people who I recognize and some people that I don't who work at Liverpool.
And it almost looks like an office, you know, that has arranged a day at the races together, arranged to spend some time together. You know, someone's thrown in to pay for the bus and all of that stuff. It looks unbelievably normal.
And I mean that as an enormous compliment to Jota, to his teammates, that they just look like they've sorted this thing out for themselves, to have a lovely day independently of any of the trappings of fame. And that picture had never surfaced until the tragedy.
I don't think that the footballers were desperate to see it out there but Andy Robertson put it out there to tell this bit of story of Diogo as general normality. And what, when you are at the age of 16, 17, 18, not feeling like you're on a trajectory to becoming a superstar, does, is it gives you a real sense of grounding.
And a sense of humility that certainly didn't seem to shift for Diogo Jota and hasn't shifted for a lot of his Liverpool teammates. And that's part of the reason why the bonds are there.
But it's also back to part of the reason why I think there's the bond with the supporters, because it -- he's one of those footballers who it doesn't take much to imagine being part of what you do.
You know, the -- that, I think, is something which, as the game at times with its riches, can grow ever more distant, those footballers are the ones that we often cherish a great deal. And Diogo was most definitely one of them.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. You talk about that sense of togetherness, not just with fans, with teammates, so many players, as we can see them filing into the church for the funeral.
Now I've seen many of his teammates from not just the club side but also the national side, you know, Bruno Fernandes and so on, going in there. And listen, we're going to come back and talk a bit more about Diogo Jota's connection to the Liverpool supporters right after the break.
Please do stay with us here on CNN NEWSROOM as we continue to cover the funeral of football star Diogo Jota. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: We return now with an update on the funeral for football star Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva.
Mourners have been arriving for the service, set to begin at the top of the hour at a local church in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal. The athletes were killed in a car crash on Thursday in northern Spain. Officials believe a blown tire caused the brothers to ultimately lose control of the Lamborghini. The incident remains under investigation at this time.
[04:50:03]
All right, we're rejoined live now by Neil Atkinson, the host of the podcast, "The Anfield Wrap" in Liverpool.
Thanks again for being here with us. So we were talking about earlier about his connection to the supporters there. Take us through what his relationship was like with the supporters and if you can share any particular memories of how he connected with the fan base there.
ATKINSON: Well, the oddity of Jota's Liverpool career is he actually signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2020. Liverpool have just become champions for the first time in 30 years. But he joins at a moment when supporters can't be in the ground.
And you look at his relationship with the Wolves fans, Wolverhampton Wanderers fans, and he does his first season in the COVID period, where games were played behind closed doors.
So whilst we got to see him on television and see him going about his business, we didn't really get to have that close-up connection with him until the season 2021-2022. And in that season, I'd argue Liverpool come very close to winning the league title. They won two cups.
One of those cups is just Diogo Jota, Diogo Jota's cup. He scores the -- he scores a key goal against Leicester that gets Liverpool into the penalty shootout against Leicester. And then he scores the winning penalty.
And in that moment he very much -- it was at the end where the Leicester supporters were and Liverpool and Leicester were. Leicester, anyway, has an odd relationship with Liverpool. They ultimately, in a football chanting way, sing lots of really quite unpleasant things about the city of Liverpool.
And they had a big end that night and Jota scores the winning penalty. And he very much makes it known what he thinks of that and of the Leicester supporters immediately after doing it in a -- in a -- in a gloriously -- and I obviously mean this as a complimentary way.
And my colleague, John, spoke to him and brought that up later in the season in an interview before the final of the competition he scored the penalty in.
And he said, "Yes, I could hear what they were singing and I didn't like it. And I thought it was important to give something back to them."
And things like that very much endear a city like Liverpool to a footballer. You know, he made his -- he made his contempt known.
And you mentioned before, Kim, you know, your club, Arsenal, in the semifinal of that competition Liverpool play Arsenal home and away in the first leg was a 0-0 draw at Anfield.
And you think, oh, we could be in a bit of trouble here. And then no Mohamed Salah, no Sadio Mane. They're both off at the African Cup of Nations. And Diogo Jota leads the line for Liverpool. And he scores two goals; the second one, a magnificent lob, which
confirms Liverpool will be going to the final. And you know, it was -- it was that run in that season, he scored so many important goals, Diogo Jota, in that season.
Liverpool, you know they end up challenging for the league title. They win two other trophies. They get to a Champions League final and Jota was arguably Liverpool's -- in a world with Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, Liverpool's most important attacker and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool's most important attacker for the first two-thirds of that season.
He'd scored so many goals that would be an equalizer or so many goals that would put you from 1-0 up to 2-0 Liverpool, 2-1 up to 3-1 up, goals that clinched and won games, important goals.
He didn't score that many where Liverpool got 4-0 up. You know in a 5- 0 win. He scored the goals that mattered.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
ATKINSON: And doing that back in front of the supporters was so important. And that's what endeared him to everyone. And that's when he started to get his song that went everywhere.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Well, let me ask then, because you've outlined how important he was on the pitch. I mean, it's been a few years on now, since some of those moments, that he's faced many injuries.
But how do you think Liverpool will cope with losing not just a key player on the pitch but someone who clearly meant so much to the squad personally?
ATKINSON: I think that's almost the hardest thing to tell, Kim.
I think the club are going to have to be guided a lot by the players in this. Liverpool have got a really -- you don't achieve what Liverpool have achieved, especially in the last season after Jurgen Klopp left and to come in -- without having a really strong set of characters and a good leadership group.
And I think Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, a couple of the other senior players are going to have to guide Liverpool's response to this internally. You know, the managers and back office setup is important. Obviously it's important in any sport and institution.
But I think that the most important people now are going to be the footballers and what they feel is right and when things need to happen. And then from there, I think by giving them that, that agency and that power, Liverpool will be able to guide them through the next couple of steps.
In terms of just in general, you mentioned the injuries, you know, a number of the injuries he got were because of the style of play that he was so combative. He was so often fighting for the ball with, frankly, bigger footballers. And he'd often win. But on a few occasions, I think he ended up getting -- receiving a
couple of quite difficult injuries to overcome, a key moment which always, you felt held him back from being able to genuinely contribute the way in which the way in which he could, as much as he would like.
[04:55:09]
And it was another aspect of him that was, just as I said before, you used the word "mercurial" to describe him. I think, listen, the sporting aspect and the sporting ramifications of this, the very much one for the next couple of weeks.
But I think that the most important thing is that those Liverpool players at the time, that they feel they best can, get themselves into preseason training, get themselves able to work.
The Liverpool support will understand if that is a difficult transition back now. There will be a ton of sympathy because we all know enough to -- and, in part, because of incidents like this but personal incidents -- to know that the impact that that grief can have on any group, on any individual.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
ATKINSON: You know, I think there'll be a sympathy for Liverpool's players. But as I said before, football goes on. Liverpool will have fixtures to fulfill. I also think that there'll be a determination from the players.
But it's important as well not to also act as though the players are all homogenous. Some could be impacted more than others, some could find it harder than others.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. But certainly, as you said, you know, when football does start up again, we will see so many touching tributes on the pitch, not just at Anfield but at stadiums across the league.
ATKINSON: I mean, he's -- he was loved. He was loved by the Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters. You know he left -- he leaves Wolverhampton Wanderers with their -- with their best wishes back in 2020 to move on to Liverpool.
And he was part of, in the modern era, a golden age for Wolverhampton Wanderers. I've already got one eye on when Liverpool go to Molineux. It'll be a sad day.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Listen, we will have to leave it there but really appreciate hearing from such a passionate Liverpool supporter. You're the voice of so many fans there, who are keenly feeling this moment now, as we mourn the life of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva.
Thank you so much.
And thank you for joining us, everybody. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. We'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after this break.
