Ronaldo demands lifetime bans over Jota chants

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has called for lifetime bans to be issued to fans who chanted the late Diogo Jota’s name towards his international team-mate Ruben Neves.

Liverpool forward Jota died in a car crash at the age of 28 in July last year, and was a close friend of midfielder Neves, having played together for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Portugal.

Supporters appeared to target Al-Hilal midfielder Neves before his side’s 6-0 win against Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday by repeatedly shouting “Jota” at him.

“The league must take action and punish this kind of fan behaviour,” forward Ronaldo, who also plays in the Saudi league for Al-Nassr, wrote on social media.

“This is no longer football, and there have to be limits. People who behave like this should never be allowed to enter a stadium again.”

Neves also now wears the number 21 shirt for Portugal in Jota’s memory, and has a tattoo on his calf of him and Jota embracing.

Ronaldo played with both players for the national team.

In the footage, Neves can be seen sarcastically applauding a section of fans off-camera, before pointing to the sky and then looking towards them.

After the match, Neves told reporters: “I just hope they don’t go to pray later after what they did.”

Liverpool forward Jota died alongside his brother Andre Silva in the crash in the Spanish province of Zamora.

He scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool after signing from Wolves in 2020, and made his international debut in 2019, scoring 14 goals in 49 games for Portugal.

“The company expressed its absolute rejection of such actions targeting players or their families, or intended to cause personal offence,” Al-Hilal said in a club statement.

Al-Taawoun’s statement said: “Such conduct is completely unacceptable and does not represent Al-Taawoun, its supporters or the values for which its terraces are known.”

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and the Saudi Pro League (SPL) also condemned the supporters’ behaviour on Sunday.

A joint statement said the conduct of some fans during the match was “inconsistent with the values of Saudi football and the principles of sportsmanship”.

The statement added that exploiting personal tragedies “for the purpose of abuse or provocation is unacceptable behaviour that has no place in Saudi football”.

The SAFF said its relevant committees had identified the conduct in question and are investigating.