Diogo Jota's wife Rute Cardoso and his parents wipe away tears as Wolves pay poignant tribute to tragic star

Diogo Jota's wife and parents wipe away tears as Wolves pay poignant tribute to tragic star

Wolves produced a remarkable tribute to former star Diogo Jota ahead of their Premier League opener against Manchester City, with his wife and parents both in attendance at Molineux aswell as long-time friend Ruben Neves

Ruben Neves and Rute Cardoso at Molineux on Saturday (Image: Getty Images)

The wife and parents of tragic Diogo Jota wiped away tears at Molineux on Saturday night as Wolves paid tribute to their former player with a stunning tifo ahead of their Premier League curtain-raiser against Manchester City.

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The incredible stunning tribute in the south bank showed a giant Jota celebrating a goal during his time as a Wolves player - whom he led tot he Championship title and promotion, before back-to-back seventh place finishes in the Premier League. Beside the tifo, a banner was displayed on the pitch which bore the words: "We'll remember you when you walk in fields of gold."

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Jota's wife, Rute Cardoso, was present for the clash accompanied by Ruben Neves, Jota's former Wolves and Portugal team-mate and one of his closest friends, who also acted as a pallbearer at his funeral following his heartbreaking death last month.

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The parents of Jota and Andre Silva, who perished alongside his brother in the car accident in Spain, were also present for the match. Like Jota's wife, Isabel and Joaquim Silva were moved to tears.

As the clock passed the 18-minute mark in the encounter, supporters around the ground stood and clapped for 60 seconds in honour of Jota, who donned the No. 18 shirt for Wolves during his stay in the Black Country.

Jota moved to Liverpool from Wolves in 2020, spending five years at Anfield, and Liverpool's Premier League opener against Bournemouth on Friday also featured numerous tributes to Jota.

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Wolves fans paid tribute to Diogo Jota ahead of the match with a giant tifo (Image: 2025 Catherine Ivill - AMA)

Diogo Jota's parents were moved to tears by the tributes to their son (Image: 2025 Getty Images)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admitted post-game that, when his side were chasing a winner, he would have loved to have been able to call on Jota from his substitutes' bench.

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"Normally at 2-2 everyone knows which player I look to at that moment in time," Slot said. "I would have loved to bring in Diogo Jota, but I could not for terrible reasons. But tonight the fans and the players did what he did for us many times in the past."

The hero of the match, Federico Chiesa, who scored Liverpool's go-ahead goal to make it 3-2 late on, also paid tribute to Jota in a post-match interview, saying: "[The goal] was a great moment for me, but my thoughts go to Diogo.

"I think for what we have seen it was his day. The feeling that the fans gave me, chanting his song all the way through the match. It was very emotional, very emotional for me. I have to say that after the goal my thoughts went to his family, his brother Andre. That's the only thing I could say.

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"At the end of the day we have to focus on the football. We wanted to win today. It was a difficult match, we went 2-0 up and then they came back, but we showed why we are champions.

"Of course Diogo would have helped us a lot but unfortunately he was somewhere else and he helped us in another way."

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