Cristiano Ronaldo has called for the Saudi Pro League to ban fans for life after appalling Diogo Jota chants were aimed at Ruben Neves on Saturday.
Neves plated in Al Hilal’s 6-0 win at Al-Taawoun on Saturday, alongside summer signings Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli.
The win took Al Hilal to the top of the Saudi Pro League but it was overshadowed by appalling behaviour by some of the home fans.
There were chants of ‘Jota! Jota! Jota!’ aimed at Neves, a man who played alongside the forward for Wolves and Portugal before his tragic death in July last year.
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Neves and Jota were close friends and the 29-year-old carried his coffin at the heart-breaking funeral last summer after the tragic car crash that killed Jota and brother Andre Silva.
Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi side Al Nassr and was also a Portugal teammate of Jota, has called for action after the disgusting actions of some fans, urging lifetime fans to be dished out.
‘The league must take action and punish this kind of fan behaviour,’ Ronaldo wrote on Instagram.
‘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.’
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Passing journalists after the game, Neves said of those aiming the chants at him: ‘I just hope they don’t go to pray later.’
In an emotional statement posted after Jota’s death last year, Neves wrote: ‘More than a friendship, we’re family, and we won’t stop it just because now you decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!” Neves wrote in an emotional statement last year.
‘When I go to the selection, you’ll still be next to me at the dinner table, on the bus, on the plane… you’ll always be there with me as always.
‘Let’s keep laughing, making plans, sharing our life with each other.
‘I’m going to make sure you’re always present and I’ll make sure that your loved ones never lack anything while you’re there, far away but thinking of us, waiting for us.
‘Life has brought us together and now it can’t tear us apart.’
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Cristiano Ronaldo demands lifetime ban for fans who mocked Diogo Jota’s tragic death | Football
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