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Legendary Portugal and Al Nassr striker Cristiano Ronaldo called for lifetime bans for abusive supporters from entering the stadium after Al-Hilal star Ruben Neves was taunted with chants about late Portuguese star Diogo Jota during a Saudi Pro League (SPL) match on Saturday.
Jota was killed in a car accident in Zamora, Spain last year in July. Both Neves and Cristiano shared the dressing room for Portugal with the late Liverpool star. Footage circulated on social media on Saturday, showing Neves standing next to his teammate Crysencio Summerville, ready to take a free-kick and chants of 'Jota, Jota, Jota' could be heard at Al Taawoun's home arena. Neves appeared to be reacting to it with sarcastic applause and a thumbs-up to the supporters before pointing up to the sky and his own eye, before then pointing in the direction from which the chanting was coming. After the match, Neves said to reporters, as quoted by ESPN, "I just hope they don't go to pray later after what they did." Cristiano, who plays for Al Nassr and played a lot alongside Neves and Jota, called on the league to ban the supporters who were involved in the chants about Jota. "The league must take action and punish this kind of fan behaviour. 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," he wrote in a comment on an Instagram post which showed the footage of the incident. Neves and Jota shared a close relationship, featuring in Portugal youth teams before sharing the changing room for Wolverhampton Wanderers in England. Neves was also a pallbearer at Jota's funeral and inherited his number 21 Portugal shirt last year. Al Hilal retained their top spot in the SPL with a 6-0 win over Al Taawoun, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring a hat-trick and England's Ollie Watkins netting a brace. (ANI)
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