Spanish police believe Diogo Jota was speeding when he and his brother died

Spanish police believe the Liverpool player Diogo Jota was driving over the speed limit when he and his brother died in a car crash last week.

Spain’s Civil Guard said on Tuesday that while its investigation into the cause of the crash last Thursday was continuing, it believed Jota was driving too fast when the Lamborghini veered off course after a tyre burst.

Previously, the police had not said whether Jota or his brother André Silva was driving. On Tuesday they said that it appeared Jota was.

A spokesperson said: “The expert report is being carried out and finished, where among other things they are studying the marks [tread] left by one of the wheels of the vehicle. Everything also points to a possible high excess of speed over the permitted speed of the road. All the tests carried out for the moment point to the fact that the driver of the vehicle was Diogo Jota.”

The report will be handed to the court in the town of Puebla de Sanabria, Zamora. The siblings died in the car when it burst into flames on an isolated section of highway early in the morning. Portuguese media reported Jota was heading to the northern Spanish city of Santander to take a ferry to England where he would rejoin Liverpool after being advised not to fly following a recent lung procedure. Their funeral was held in Portugal on Saturday.