Ruben Neves has a tattoo of Diogo Jota on his leg. He still sends him messages in a WhatsApp group. And on Saturday, opposing fans used Jota's name as a taunt — chanting it mockingly in Neves' direction during Al-Hilal's 6-0 demolition of Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Pro League.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't mince words about it. Taking to Instagram, he wrote: "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."
Hard to argue with that.
What Neves and Jota meant to each other
Jota died in a car accident in July 2025, alongside his brother André Silva. He and Neves were teammates at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Portugal — close enough that Neves still hasn't left their shared WhatsApp group. "Whenever something special happens, I have the conversations archived on my WhatsApp so I can continue to send him messages," Neves said recently. That context makes what happened in the stands on Saturday something well beyond ordinary football tribalism.
Neves, visibly responding to the chants on video, kept his post-match comment short and cutting: "I hope they don't go to prayer later."
The match result — a routine 6-0 win featuring a Gabriel Martinelli hat-trick and two goals from Ollie Watkins — is almost irrelevant now. The story that travelled from that stadium wasn't the scoreline.
Saudi football's image problem
The Saudi Pro League has spent billions trying to reshape its global reputation, and incidents like this do real damage to that project. Saudi international Saleh Abu Al-Shamat acknowledged as much on Instagram, calling out the Al-Taawoun fans directly and framing it as a failure of Islamic values: "We live in an Islamic country, and it is our duty to show the world what Islam truly represents — a religion of love, tolerance, and respect."
Whether the league follows Ronaldo's call for lifetime bans or issues a softer response will say a lot about how seriously those in charge take that responsibility.
"This is no longer football, and there have to be limits." Ronaldo said it. Now the Saudi Pro League has to decide if it means it.
