Diogo Jota was behind the wheel of a car when it crashed on a Spanish motorway and was likely speeding, according to Spanish police.

Liverpool player Diogo Jota, 28, and his brother André Silva, 25, were killed when their Lamborghini suffered a suspected tyre blowout in the northwestern Spanish province of Zamora in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Spain’s Guardia Civil said the car was apparently overtaking on the A52 motorway near the town of Palacios de Sanabria when it veered off the road and burst into flames. “Evidence also suggests that the vehicle was likely travelling above the speed limit on the motorway,” local traffic police in Zamora said.

Police said they had analysed tyre marks on the road, some distance from the site of the explosion, and “all tests so far have shown that the driver of the crashed vehicle was Diogo Jota.”

Crash scene

A forensic report is being prepared for the court. Police said the investigation was hampered by the intense fire which almost completely destroyed the car.

The crash happened just 11 days after Jota married his long-term girlfriend Rute Cardoso in Portugal. The couple have three children together. The brothers were travelling to the Spanish port of Santander so Jota could return to Liverpool for pre-season training.

The couple’s funeral was held in their hometown of Gondomar, near Porto, over the weekend. Tyre marks were reportedly visible from around 100 metres before the point of impact.

Despite reports that the road surface in the area where the accident occurred is uneven, police told Spanish media that it is not an “accident black spot” and that the road is still safe to drive on even above the 120 km/h (75 mph) speed limit.