"This is no longer football" - Cristiano Ronaldo demands lifetime bans after fans make sick Diogo Jota taunt

Cristiano Ronaldo has urged the Saudi Pro League to issue lifetime bans to supporters who taunted Ruben Neves with chants of the name of his late friend Diogo Jota.

Jota and his brother, André Silva, died in July 2025 when the car they were travelling in crashed in Spain. A sickening video emerged over the weekend showing supporters inside Al Taawoun Club Stadium taunting Al Hilal midfielder Neves with chants of "Jota, Jota, Jota" as he prepared to take a free-kick.

Neves was visibly outraged by the incident and hit back at the section of supporters as he made a gesture towards his eyes. The actions were also furiously condemned by his Portugal teammate Ronaldo, who urged the SPL to ban any fan found guilty of taking part in the hideous abuse.

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Cristiano Ronaldo demands lifetime bans after fans make sick Diogo Jota taunt

Ronaldo is the star of the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr and played alongside Jota and Neves for the Portugal national team.

After a video of the chanting went viral on social media over the weekend, the football legend hit out in the comments section and demanded serious punishment for anyone involved.

"The league must take action and punish this kind of fan behavior," he 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."

Upon hearing the chants, Neves could be seen sarcastically applauding the supporters before pointing towards the sky and then making an eye-pointing gesture towards the fans.

As he walked through the media tribune after the match, a disgusted Neves briefly told reporters: "I just hope they don't go to pray later after what they did."

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Ruben Neves knew Diogo Jota better than most

Neves and Jota were extremely close friends from a young age, having played youth football together in the same age group for both Porto and Portugal.

The pair were born just four months apart, and both moved to Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers in July 2017 when they were 20.

Neves and Jota both lived close to each other in the Compton area of Wolverhampton, where they spent a huge amount of time together. They both played key roles in Wolves' rise to the Premier League and became regulars at senior international level alongside their idol, Ronaldo.

Following Jota's death last year, Neves got a calf tattoo of the pair embracing as a permanent tribute to his close friend and former teammate. He was also a pallbearer at the forward's funeral and has since inherited Jota's old No. 21 shirt for Portugal.

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