Al Hilla’s Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo were seen fighting tears at the time of silence held in memory of Diogo Jota before their quarterfinals of the World Cup against Fluminste on Friday.
The emotional honor came only a day after the news broke on the tragic deaths of the Portuguese International and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Filipe in a traffic accident in Spain. Both were killed when their Lamborghini suffered a tire on the A-52 motorway in Zamora, turned off the road and lit.
The emergency services confirmed that both men had died on the scene. The accident occurred only ten days after Jota’s wedding with his long -time partner, Rute cardoso, in Porto.
See Cancelo and Ruben Neves. Oh my word. Actually I’m broken ??
pic.twitter.com/pcug2opw4j– | (@APXLFC) 4th July 2025
At the stadium, silence was observed before the match in Orlando, Florida, with visibly disabled players and fans giving up respect. Nves and Cancelo, both visibly emotional, stood on the pitch as they developed, their grief mirrored millions over the world.
Al Hilal lost with Fluminense
As soon as the game began, Fluminense advanced to the semifinals with a victory of 2-1 over Al Hilal, thanks to the late winner from the spare Hercules. It was his second goal in so many second half of the tournament.
Fluminense took the lead in the 40th minute over Martinelli, whose excellent first touch from Gabriel Fuentes’ Pass built it to fire the left foot shot around Yassine Bounou from 15 yards out. However, the Saudi club found its way back just after the break.
After Kalidou Koulibaly’s header landed from the corner at his feet, the striker Marcos Leonardo equalized the score in the 51 minute with the compound adjustment. It was Leonard’s fourth destination and performed in the absence of Aleksandar Mitrovic.
But it was Hercules who had the last word. In the 70th minute, after his initial shot was diverted, he ran and earned on the second occasion. The Samuel Xavier header found him just in front of the box, and Hercules dominated him perfectly before leaving a low shot to the lower left corner and provoking wild celebrations from the predominantly pro-Brazilian crowd.
Al Hilal pushed hard in the final minutes, but he couldn’t find an equalizer, ending their impressive run. In addition, the Saudi side shocked the world with a dramatic victory of 4-3 over Manchester City in the second round, but their journey ends in the last eight as the final Asian representatives.
Fluminense will now face Chelsea, who defeated Palmeiras in the second quarterfinal in Philadelphia later on Friday.
– ends
Published:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
5th July 2025
