Football star Diogo Jota dead after sports car crash: Why did the Lamborghini immediately burst into flames?

The football world is mourning the loss of Diogo Jota. The Liverpool FC attacking star and Portuguese international, who had recently married and was only 28 years old, died in a tragic car accident in Spain. According to consistent media reports, his younger brother André Silva was also on board the sports car, which the Spanish sports newspaper "AS" reported was a Lamborghini Huracan.

Initial details of the accident have now been revealed. Diogo Jota and André Silva were traveling on the A-52 near the town of Cernadilla (Zamora province), located in northwestern Spain on the Portuguese border, when they attempted to overtake another car. A tire reportedly burst. A video from the accident scene by the local newspaper "Diario de Castilla y León" shows a tire track leading to the left of the roadway toward the grass verge. There, the Lamborghini apparently broke through a guardrail, causing it to roll over and subsequently catch fire.

The two men were unable to free themselves from the car and thus fell victim to the flames. Photos and videos circulating online show that the sports car was destroyed beyond recognition. Debris from the crashed car was reportedly found within a radius of about 100 meters from the spot where the Lamborghini ultimately burned out.

Following the fatal accident involving Diogo Jota and his brother, the question arises whether supercars are more prone to catching fire than other, "normal" cars. There are no hard facts or evidence to support this theory, but the specific installation position of the engine in a mid-engine sports car like the Lamborghini Huracan could potentially favor the outbreak of a fire. It sits directly between the passenger compartment and the rear axle, with the 5.2-liter V10 engine squeezed into a narrow engine compartment. Hot components such as the exhaust system and the oil and fuel lines are also located in a very small space. Even the fuel tank is located behind the two passengers. In a front-engine car, these components are usually somewhat further apart. Furthermore, effective cooling is technically much easier with a front-engined engine.

In addition, sophisticated engines like the ten-cylinder in the Lamborghini Huracan must withstand very high thermal loads. They are fundamentally designed for this, but in an extreme event such as this accident involving a rollover, the risk of a fatal chain reaction is certainly present. Consider the accident involving Fast and Furious actor Paul Walker in 2013. He was sitting in the passenger seat of a Porsche Carrera GT (also a mid-engine V10 sports car) that collided at excessive speed with a lamppost and a tree, then caught fire.

Diogo Jota leaves behind a wife and three children born between 2021 and 2024. He won the UEFA Nations League twice with the Portuguese national team and was crowned Premier League champion, FA Cup winner, and League Cup winner once each. Jota scored 63 goals in 190 Premier League appearances for England. He scored 14 goals in 49 caps for his country's national team.