Former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo opted to stay away from international teammate Diogo Jota’s funeral yesterday.
The footballing world was rocked earlier this week by the devastating news of Jota and his brother’s death.
The two players were travelling back from holiday in Portugal in a car to catch a ferry in Northern Spain to take them to England.
Reports suggest they suffered an accident whilst overtaking on the motorway.
A funeral was held yesterday in the brothers’ hometown of Gondomar, Portugal, that was well-attended by his club and international teammates, including United pair Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot.
One notable absentee was that of Cristiano Ronaldo who chose not to attend the ceremony.
Portuguese paper A Bola reports that, “Cristiano Ronaldo did not attend the funeral ceremonies of Diogo Jota and André Silva so as not to create a media circus that would only create even more trouble for the families of the late players.”
The Al Nassr forward has been in contact “with the people closest to the former Liverpool striker and together they agreed that this would be the best option.”
Ronaldo’s absence has been a hot topic on social media where some people called him out for not attending and believed it was his role as the national team captain to be there.
Nonetheless, his argument was “his status as a global star would be more harmful than beneficial, drawing excessive attention at a time when the utmost modesty is required.”
According to the newspaper, the former United forward has “assured his family that he will always be present, having spoken to Diogo Jota’s parents and wife, Rute.”
Jota’s international coaches Fernando Santos and Roberto Martínez were in attendance, however.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
