Cristiano Ronaldo has called on the Saudi Pro League to issue lifetime stadium bans to any supporter found to have been involved in the taunting of Rúben Neves by chants about the late Diogo Jota during a match on Saturday.
Jota was killed alongside his brother when the car they were in crashed in Zamora, Spain, in July 2025. Both Neves and Ronaldo were international teammates of Jota.
Footage circulating on social media on Saturday shows Neves standing next to his Al Hilal teammate Crysencio Summerville preparing to take a free kick amid audible chants of “Jota, Jota, Jota” at the home stadium of Al Taawoun.
Neves appears to react by sarcastically applauding and giving a thumbs up to the supporters before pointing to the sky and his own eye before then pointing in the direction from which the chanting is coming from.
After the match, the midfielder walked through the mixed zone, saying to reporters: “I just hope they don’t go to pray later after what they did.”
Ronaldo, who plays for Al Nassr but has earned a host of Portugal caps while playing alongside Neves and Jota, called on the Saudi Pro League to punish supporters found to have participated in the chanting about Jota.
“The league must take action and punish this kind of fan behavior. 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 showing footage of the incident.
Neves and Jota grew close after playing together in youth teams for Portugal and Porto before becoming teammates at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Neves was a pallbearer at Jota’s funeral. Neves inherited Jota’s Portugal No. 21 shirt last year.
Al Hilal retained top spot in the Saudi Pro League with a 6-0 win over Al Taawoun as Gabriel Martinelli scored a hat trick and England’s Ollie Watkins netted a brace.
