Diogo Jota’s Former Teammate Opens Up About ‘Depre...

Diogo Jota’s Former Teammate Opens Up About ‘Depression’ He’s Faced Since Soccer Star’s Death: ‘No Need to Be Ashamed’

“When you’re depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body,” Ibrahima Konaté said

Former Liverpool player Ibrahima Konaté opened up about the “depression” he’s endured from overwhelming grief in the last year since suddenly losing his teammate Diogo Jota in July 2025, followed by the death of his father in January.

In an interview with Radio France, Konaté, 27, said he was “devastated” after Jota was killed in a car crash just days after his wedding last summer, and told the outlet, “I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point.”

Konaté, who was Jota’s teammate for four seasons, said Liverpool returned to play 10 days after Jota’s death because they had “no choice but to go back on the field and play for him and his family, as well as ourselves.”

“There’s no way of getting over it, but you learn to live with it,” he added.

Konaté shared that while he was grieving the loss of his teammate, his father Hamady fell ill. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know whether I should go home and stop playing, because the team needed me too,” he told Radio France.

Ibrahima Konaté on Sept. 28, 2024.Marc Atkins/Getty

The athlete said he “didn’t know who to talk to about” his feelings at the time, explaining, “So I kept it all to myself, and this is the advice I’d give to everyone: when you’re feeling down or something’s going on, you need to talk to those around you.”

Konaté said, “It can help you and do you good. I didn’t talk about it and kept it to myself.”

He went on to describe feeling “low points” and said, “You can suffer from depression in football too, there’s no need to be ashamed to say so,” and noted how finances can act as a blanket for emotional distress.

“It’s true that I’ve often heard players say they were suffering from depression and that fans or people on the outside didn’t understand because they were earning a lot of money,” he said. “But no, that’s rubbish and you shouldn’t say that.”

He continued, “Depression is personal; it’s deep inside you. When you’re depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body. For me, that’s what’s hard, and we need to talk about it.”

Fans mourn Diogo Jota at Anfield Stadium on July 5, 2025.Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty

Jota was 28 when he and his 26-year-old brother, fellow pro soccer player André Silva, were killed in a car accident in the Spanish province of Zamora, according to the BBC and Sky News, citing Spanish news agency EFE.

In a statement at the time, Liverpool F.C. said, “Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota. The club have been informed the 28-year-old has passed away following a road traffic accident in Spain along with his brother, Andre.”

“Liverpool FC will be making no further comment at this time and request the privacy of Diogo and Andre’s family, friends, teammates and club staff is respected as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss. We will continue to provide them with our full support,” they added.