Cristiano Ronaldo (wearing the captain armband) with deceased teammate Diogo Jota
A section of football fans on social media has lambasted legendary footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for absenting himself from the funeral of his teammate Diogo Jota.
On July 5, 2025, mourners, including global football stars, attended the funeral of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silver in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal.
Players and coaching staff from the Portuguese national team and his club side, Liverpool, were present in large numbers to pay their last respects to the player who lost his life in a fatal accident after their car crashed in Spain.
However, Ronaldo was noticeably absent among the dignitaries while the event was ongoing, prompting questions from football fans across the globe.
Some questioned why Ronaldo, the captain of the Portuguese national team, would skip such an event for a teammate whom he paid tribute to on his social media page.
The aggrieved fans accused the Al Nassr forward of being egoistic and showing disrespect to the deceased, with whom he played in the team to clinch major international trophies.
Despite the barrage of criticisms, Ronaldo has not issued a statement or addressed concerns about his absence from the funeral.
SB/EB
Read the post below:
Ronaldo didn’t attend the funeral, and the Jota family in Ghana vex. pic.twitter.com/5Y2jy50cSZ
— 32 Fun Foolers (@The_graphics32) July 5, 2025
🚨 Cristiano Ronaldo decided not to attend Jota’s funeral for fear of disrupting the mourning atmosphere in the town.
I LOVE THIS GUY pic.twitter.com/cZqmheSx2R
— DON “Tobechukwu” Ade 👑 (@Row_Haastrup) July 5, 2025
First person to console him after his horrible penalty miss against Slovenia. Guess who it was? It was Diogo Jota. What a lovely person Jota was and a whole captain couldn’t just take 1 hour of his time to show him gratitude at his funeral. Ronaldo is so heartless pic.twitter.com/bXqAiqHFN8
— Messiah🇦🇷🇪🇸 (@messiah_07) July 5, 2025
SAD 💔 Cristiano Ronaldo refused to attend Diogo Jota’s burial for fear of disrupting the mourning atmosphere in the city because of his fame. 💔😔
Cristiano has since offered his condolences to the family in private. pic.twitter.com/6wHy9kSilp
— Dci Embu (@Dciembu) July 5, 2025
Fame sometimes has its bad side. Ronaldo cannot go for his friend funeral because he doesn’t want the event to be about him (which the media will make sure it is) which can be disrespectful to the Jota’s family.
Rest Easy Diogo Jota and Andre Jota— Femi This, Femi That (@Ajayisanchez) July 5, 2025
RIP Jota and André…… Ronaldo couldn’t attend cos the funeral would be about him.. public figures attended the pope funeral and over 200k people were there… But that arrogant boy think he his bigger than everyone https://t.co/2aX31wSNRK
— #FreeSmurk #FromLagosToTheChi 🇺🇸 (@iAmJayPlatt) July 6, 2025
ronaldo not attending jota’s funeral in fears of paps making it about him just made it all about him again
— ashley🫧 (@blackcherryox) July 5, 2025
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