Silence, tears, and endless pain in Gondomar, the birthplace and grave of Diogo Jota and his brother: "They didn't deserve this end, no one does."

A huge fan breaks the silence in the Chapel of the Resurrection. Representative Jorge Mendes and former footballer Joao Moutinho sit in the front rows of the building next to the Silva family. Opposite, two closed brown coffins, holding the mortal remains of Diogo José Teixeira Da Silva, Diogo Jota , and André Silva , his younger brother, preside over a wake that all of Gondomar will pass by throughout this Friday. The interior is reached after passing through an enormous aisle of wreaths sent by the footballer's colleagues, representation agencies, clubs... but also by local residents who want to remember these two brothers whose death has transcended the walls of this small town near Porto.

If you retrace the steps taken by the Silva brothers, Diogo and André, that path is linked to a ball first, and then to a goal, if there was one. Ana Oliveira , a neighbor of the family when they still lived in a humble house in Sao Cosme, at the top of Gondomar, had both. Her son played soccer with the brothers on the unpaved street where their housing complex was located. He would later meet André at Gondomar. "I feel a great sadness," she explains to EL MUNDO from the balcony of her house, next to the Silvas', and bursts into uncontrollable tears.

The death of the two young men has hit this humble neighborhood hard, in a town bordering Porto, from which you can smell the sea, even though it's not entirely coastal. There's barely any movement on the streets, half asphalt, half sand. Angelo Oliveira , another family friend, stops his small truck full of construction materials on one of them. "They were very good kids, very well-liked, they spent all day playing soccer," says the bricklayer, and says goodbye: "Life, unfortunately, passes."

Just 100 meters from their home, at the back, is the Aguiar Elementary School , where both Diogo and André attended high school. A new soccer field, with its worn goal nets, is a reminder of these two children who "were always cheerful" and "very sociable," according to the school.

The Silvas left those humble, low-rise houses when Jota began to succeed in football, but his maternal grandmother remains in that corner of Gondomar, to which two of her favorite sons can no longer return. A huge cross presides over another soccer field that leads to Rua Minhoteira, the Silvas' former street, as if in improvised homage to what would happen on July 3, 2025, at kilometer 63.300 of the A-52 highway that connects Pontevedra and Benavente.

However, if there is a place where the memory of the footballers shines brightly, it is in the facilities of Gondomar Sporting Clube, the town's team, where several giant images of Diogo Jota preside over both the Sao Miguel stadium, where both boys kicked the ball for the first time, and in the offices, where an improvised altar has been set up with numerous candles, messages, flowers and many of the club's shirts.

Fernando Ferreira , former manager and director of the Gondomar SC Schools, came to pay his respects to the deceased young men. The man, about 70 years old, stood motionless before the altar, holding back his tears. "I have no words because no matter how hard I try, they just won't come out," he explained to this newspaper, recalling how the boys' grandfather, Mr. Alberto, never missed a single one of the brothers' games.

They say André had the potential to reach the top, but Jota always assured them he would achieve it. He delivered, as evidenced by the respect and affection of fans and a club like Liverpool, which has considered retiring the Portuguese player's number 20 from its first team. "Our rivals always had a lot of respect for Jota because he was very humble," he emphasizes. "They didn't deserve this ending... nobody does," he concludes, his voice breaking.

These are difficult times in this town of nearly 170,000 inhabitants. This Friday, Luís Filipe Araújo , president of the Gondomar Municipal Council, had declared a day of mourning and suspended all activities. Flags on municipal buildings were flying at half-mast. "We are deeply saddened. We are talking about two very young men who, especially Diogo due to his popularity, were always available for any charitable action that was required of them," he told EL MUNDO.

The mayor still can't believe that the last conversation he had with Jota was to offer him a city decoration for winning the second Nations League with Portugal. He doesn't want to think about future honors for the deceased, which he's sure will come, but insists that the pain they're experiencing right now doesn't allow them to think about such things.

Araújo and members of the council were responsible for welcoming Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to the players' wake in the Chapel of the Resurrection shortly before 3 p.m. Also present were Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Porto's manager and current president, André Villas-Boas , among others. At 4 p.m., the funeral procession opened to the public so anyone who wished could pay their final respects to the players.