Porto, July 9, 2025 — In the quiet shadow of a national tragedy, Diogo Jota’s grieving father has shared a chilling detail that’s now sending shivers down the spines of football fans across the globe — a vivid, haunting dream he had just two days after laying his son to rest.
According to sources close to the family, Mr. Joaquim Silva — Jota’s father — had refused most interviews following the devastating crash that took the lives of his son and youngest child. But in a private moment with a close friend, he reportedly broke his silence to share something he couldn’t explain.
“I saw Diogo in a field… but he wasn’t alone,” Joaquim said. “He was holding someone’s hand. A child. And when I got closer, I realized it was my brother. My brother who died nearly 20 years ago.”
Family members say the dream left Joaquim visibly shaken. In the dream, Jota apparently looked at him and smiled — not with sadness, but with calm — before turning away into the fog-covered grass, walking hand in hand with his late uncle.
“The moment I woke up, I was crying,” Joaquim told his friend. “It didn’t feel like a dream. It felt like a message.”
What made the experience even more unsettling is that Diogo Jota was extremely close to his great-uncle growing up. That man, José Silva, was the first person who introduced him to football as a child, often kicking a ball with him behind their old family home in Massarelos.
The story was never meant to go public. But after it was mentioned discreetly at a local mass held in Jota’s honor, the detail began circulating online — eventually reaching fans who described the account as “painful but strangely beautiful.”
One user wrote:
“This gave me goosebumps. Maybe it’s true — we’re never really alone in our final moments.”
Another added:
“The fact that his uncle was there… it’s like his soul came to guide Diogo home.”
This revelation comes amid a week of tributes, mourning, and unanswered questions surrounding the crash that claimed the life of the 28-year-old Liverpool and Portugal striker. His death has left a gaping hole in the football world, but also within a close-knit family still trying to make sense of their loss.
While Joaquim Silva has declined to comment further, a family member confirmed he continues to have trouble sleeping, waking up often and replaying the dream over and over again in his mind.
“He believes Diogo was trying to say goodbye — not just to him, but to all of us.”
Whatever your beliefs, one thing is clear: this family’s pain is matched only by their love — and the mysterious, aching way that love seems to linger long after a goodbye.