By Nicola Croal
Diogo Jota and his childhood sweetheart wife Rute Cardoso tied the knot just 11 days before the Liverpool FC footballer sadly passed away in a car accident in Spain on Thursday. In the hours before his death, the pair had both shared heartfelt videos and snaps of their dream wedding online, publicly declaring their strong love for one another in the captions. The 28 year old, who joined the club in 2020 and his brother Andre Felipe, were killed while travelling in a Lamborghini in the early hours of Thursday morning. Spanish authorities have confirmed their car’s tyre burst while overtaking another vehicle in the municipality of Cernadilla in the province of Zamora before their car crashed off the road and burst into flames. Diogo and Rute had been together since their early teens, with their relationship beginning in 2012. The late star had proposed to his wife over a romantic lakeside dinner in 2022 before tying the knot last month in Porto on June 22 in a lavish ceremony inside a grand church. The couple’s three young kids, sons Dinis, 4, and Duarte 2, and their daughter, who was born last year but her name is not known, played a big part in their parent’s big day as they stood at the altar beside them in matching outfits. In a heartbreaking post uploaded just five days ago, the family of five could be seen beaming in snaps inside a church in the Portugese city. Dressed in a beautiful white bridal gown with a long veil spanning behind her and a silver tiara upon her head, Rute beamed beside her baby daughter, who was dressed in a matching dress and tiara as she held her in her arms beside her late husband Diogo. The footballer donned a smart navy suit, with the couple’s two sons adorably matching with their father. Rute chillingly captioned the touching family snap: “June 22, 2025. Yes to forever”, alongside an infinity sign. Other snaps showed the newly weds holding up their hands together with their new wedding rings and exiting the church with confetti being thrown over them by their family and friends. In another post from just two days ago, Rute detailed the beauty artists who did her hair and makeup for the big day and where all of her silver jewellery and tiara was from. Her caption read: “My dream came true” while Jota wrote: “I’m the lucky one.”. Jota’s final social media post, posted less than 24 hours ago, was a touching video of the couple’s wedding day, which he captioned: “A day we will never forget.” The video begins with his beautiful bride walking out to a rooftop view over the city and gazing out over Porto. The priest can be heard in the background as a voice over, delivering the wedding sermon while Diogo and Rute were seen getting ready in the build up alongside their groomsmen and bridesmaids. Later in the clip, the pair were seen embracing one another and dancing the night away with all their loved ones in what appeared to be a huge party with live singers in a glass dome building. Join the Daily Record’s WhatsApp community here an d get the latest news sent straight to your messages Less than 10 hours after his final post, the Portuguese star was killed in a heartbreaking car crash alongside his brother Andre. The Guardia Civil said: “We can now bring you the full statement from the Guardia Civil, given verbally, confirming the deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother , Andre Felipe: “The information we have so far is that the car, which was a Lamborghini, was in a road traffic accident and left the road due to a tyre blow out while overtaking. “IIt was in the early hours, 00:30 BST, in the municipality of Cernadilla in the province of Zamora.” “The car caught on fire and the two occupants were killed.”