Real Madrid made a blunder at their club assembly on Sunday, while trying to pay tribute to Andre Silva, who died alongside his brother Diogo Jota in July in a car crash
Real Madrid have been forced to apologise after showing a photo of the wrong person in a tribute to Diogo Jota’s brother Andre Silva. The two footballers tragically passed away in a car crash in July and Real tried to pay tribute at their club assembly on Sunday.
The Spanish giants played a video in tribute to the people who have died over the past year. The video included a photo of Liverpool forward Jota, who died at the age of 28, but there was a mistake involving Jota’s brother Andre.
Real accidentally used a photo of Elche forward Andre da Silva, who has a very similar name. The mistake was quickly spotted and the club apologised publicly.
In a statement posted on social media, they said: “Real Madrid C.F. apologises to Elche C.F. and its player André da Silva for having mistakenly included his image in the obituary of an institutional video instead of that of André Silva, the brother of Diogo Jota, the Liverpool player. We regret this incident.”
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Club president Florentino Perez also apologised in person at the club assembly. “There was a mistake in the remembrance of Diogo Jota, and the image of Andre da Silva was shown instead of (Jota’s) brother Andre Silva,” he said. “A human error, for which I want to apologise sincerely.”
Silva passed away at the age of 25. He was also a professional footballer for Portuguese second division side Penafiel, having previously played for Gondomar – his home town where both he and his brother were laid to rest.
Real Madrid’s video tribute also included the photos of Leo Beenhakker, Jose Manuel Ochotorena, Mario Vargas Llosa, Giorgio Armani, Pope Francisco and former Barcelona club doctor Carles Minarro.
Jota’s memory has lived on at Liverpool, where the fans sing about him after 20 minutes of every match to salute his shirt number, which has been retired. His former team-mate Andy Robertson spoke movingly about the Portugal international after helping Scotland qualify for the World Cup.
“I’ve hid it well, but today I’ve been in bits. I know the age I’m at, this could be my last chance to go to the World Cup,” he said. “I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today.
“We spoke so much about going to the World Cup because he missed the last one with Portugal and I did with Scotland. I know he’ll be smiling over me today. I’m so glad it’s ended up this way.”
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