Mexico’s Raul Jimenez pays tribute to former teammate Diogo Jota with goal celebration in Gold Cup final

Raul Jimenez van Mexico paid homage to Diogo Jota in the Concacaf Gold Cup -Final and broke the trademark celebration of his former teammate after Jota and his brother Andre Silva died in a car accident.

Jimenez scored in the 27th minute of the collision of Mexico with the national team of the American gentlemen and took an equalizer after the opponents took the lead in the fourth minute. After celebrating with his Mexico teammates, Jimenez sat on the grass with his legs folded and broke a sweater with the name and number of Jota on the back and explained it for him. The player also pretended to play a video game, just like Jota, an avid gamer, would do after scoring a goal.

Jota and Jimenez were teammates at Wolverhampton Wanderers from 2018 to 2019, during the only season of Jimenez in the English club and a year before Jota moved to Liverpool. Jimenez spoke about Jota prior to the Gold Cup final on Sunday and joined a list of people who spoke glowing about the Portugal International.

“He was a great teammate,” Said Jimenez on Saturday. “We have shared many beautiful moments as important parts of what Wolves have achieved at the time. It is very difficult to learn this kind of news about someone so close to you and who was a good friend.”

Jimenez is one of the many football players around the world to pay tribute to Jota using his trademark celebration, a list of Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid after they scored on Saturday at Club World Cup promotion on Saturday. Hany Mukhtar from Nashville SC led his team in a similar celebration in MLS game on Saturday, while Nigeria’s Rinsola Babajide, a former Liverpool player, also paid tribute to Jota in the victory of her team in the ladies Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday.

Jota, 28, and Silva, 25, died in Spain on Thursday after a car accident. Jota played for the national team of Liverpool and Portugal and collected the Premier League title and the UEFA Nations League Trophy in the last games of his career. The funeral of the brothers took place on Saturday in their hometown Gondomar, Portugal.