Real Madrid have issued a formal apology after an embarrassing and deeply sensitive mistake during their Ordinary General Assembly at the Santiago Bernabéu. What should have been a respectful moment of remembrance for Diogo Jota and his late brother André Silva turned into a communications disaster, as the club mistakenly used the image of the wrong André Silva in a memorial video.
How the tribute went wrong
During the Assembly, Real Madrid showed an institutional video paying tribute to people connected with the club and wider football world who had passed away over the last year. Among those honoured were Portuguese forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, who tragically died in a car accident in Spain earlier this summer.
However, instead of displaying a photo of Jota’s brother, the video featured an image of Elche striker André da Silva – a completely different player who simply shares a similar name. The Elche forward is alive, active in La Liga and currently preparing for Real Madrid’s upcoming league visit to the Martínez Valero.
The moment quickly spread across social media, with fans highlighting how surreal it was to see a current La Liga player effectively “included” in an obituary by mistake. For a club of Madrid’s scale, global reach and self-proclaimed obsession with detail, the error looked amateur and avoidable.
Real Madrid’s official apology
Once the mistake was recognised, Real Madrid moved to limit the damage. The club released an official statement on their social channels addressing the incident directly and naming both Elche and the player involved.
In the statement, Los Blancos apologised to Elche CF and to André da Silva for including his image “in the obituary of an institutional video instead of that of André Silva, brother of Diogo Jota”, adding that the club regrets what happened and acknowledging the seriousness of the mix-up.
Club president Florentino Pérez then reiterated that message live in front of the members at the Assembly. He described the incident as a human error, but one for which he wanted to apologise “sincerely” on behalf of Real Madrid. For a brief moment, off-pitch administration overshadowed any sporting issues around the club.
The real tragedy behind the story
Behind the communications mistake is a genuinely heartbreaking story. Diogo Jota and his younger brother André lost their lives in a car crash in early July on the A-52 motorway in Spain, a tragedy that sent shockwaves through the football world. The brothers were 28 and 25, respectively, with Jota still an active Liverpool player at the time of the accident.
Clubs, teammates and fans have spent the months since paying tribute. Liverpool supporters now regularly chant Jota’s name during matches, while flowers, shirts and messages have appeared at stadiums across Europe. Real Madrid themselves had already honoured the brothers before a Champions League clash with Liverpool at Anfield, when club representatives laid a wreath and left a message of condolence outside the ground.
That context makes the error in the Assembly video even more painful. The intention from Real Madrid was clearly to show respect and keep the memory of the brothers alive, but the execution – mixing up the image of the brother with a completely different professional footballer – undercut the sincerity of the gesture.
Awkward timing ahead of Elche clash
Adding to the sense of discomfort is the timing. Madrid are scheduled to face Elche in La Liga, with André da Silva expected to be involved for the home side. The player suddenly found himself trending not because of something on the pitch, but because his face was shown as part of an obituary at Real Madrid’s Assembly.
From Elche’s perspective, they have every right to feel unhappy that their striker was dragged into such a sensitive situation through no fault of his own. Even with the apology, it puts the player in an awkward position leading into an important league fixture.
What the incident means for Real Madrid’s image
For Real Madrid, this episode is a reminder that the standards they demand on the pitch also need to be matched in how they operate off it. The club regularly emphasises excellence, professionalism and global leadership. An error like this – mixing up the identity of someone being remembered in a memorial video – goes against that image.
In practical terms, the club has done the only things it can do after the fact: issue a public apology, name the people affected, and have the president take responsibility in front of the membership. Those are positive steps, and they will matter to Elche, to André da Silva and to the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother.
But it will also force some internal reflection. Memorials are not routine content; they are moments where accuracy, empathy and respect have to be non-negotiable. Getting names and faces right is the minimum standard. Real Madrid’s communications and production teams will almost certainly review their internal checks so that a mistake of this type is not repeated.
RMxtra view: a lesson in respect and attention to detail
From an RMxtra perspective, this story is about more than just a viral clip. It highlights how fragile trust can be when clubs handle tragedies in the public eye. Supporters expect their institutions to honour players and families with care. When the club gets it right, as Madrid largely did with their earlier tributes at Anfield, it strengthens the bond between fans, players and the crest.
When it goes wrong, as it did at the Assembly, it creates a disconnect that can only be repaired with humility and transparency. Real Madrid’s swift apology is the right start, but the real test will be whether the club shows, in future tributes, that it has learned from this and will treat such moments with the precision and respect they deserve.
Ultimately, everyone around the club will hope that Elche, André da Silva, and, most importantly, the family of Diogo Jota and his brother accept the apology. The memory of the two brothers should not be defined by a production mistake at an Assembly, but by what they did on the pitch and the love they continue to receive from fans across the world of football.