The head of the Portugal Football Federation has launched a fierce defence of Cristiano Ronaldo following criticism over his absence from Diogo Jota's funeral last month.
Pedro Proença branded the backlash against the national team captain as "an immense injustice" after online critics questioned why Ronaldo failed to attend whilst fellow internationals paid their respects.
The Al-Nassr forward faced scrutiny when he did not join Portugal team-mates including Bruno Fernandes, Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva at the ceremony for Jota, who died alongside his brother André Silva in a vehicle collision in northern Spain last month.
Proença insisted the criticism was unwarranted, stating that Ronaldo "was one of the people who felt it the most" following the tragedy.
The head of the Portugal Football Federation has launched a fierce defence of Cristiano Ronaldo following criticism over his absence from Diogo Jota's funeral last month
|GETTY
"It's an immense injustice to say that Cristiano, in some way, played a more detached role in this," he said.
"From the very beginning, the captain was with us and was one of the people who most closely connected with the national team family, with Jota's own blood family.
"And I say it again: what they said about our captain is unfair. Cristiano Ronaldo, he was one of the people who felt it the most, especially because he was a true team-mate of Jota.
"His physical absence means nothing more than that, because he never abandoned this family."
July's devastating crash occurred just eleven days after Jota had wed his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, leaving the 28-year-old widow to care for their three children alone.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota won the Nations League twice with Portugal while playing together | GETTYThe couple's sons Dinis, aged four, and two-year-old Duarte, along with eight-month-old daughter Mafalda, lost both their father and uncle in the collision that shocked the football community.
Jota had been Ronaldo's team-mate in the Portuguese national squad, with the pair celebrating Nations League victories together in 2019 and 2025.
They featured alongside each other on 32 occasions for their country, most recently during Portugal's penalty shootout triumph over Spain in June's Nations League final.
Ronaldo reportedly chose not to attend the funeral because he feared his celebrity status would divert attention from mourners paying their final respects to the brothers.
Following news of the deaths, Ronaldo posted an emotional tribute on social media.
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"It doesn't make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you had gotten married," he wrote.
"To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them.
"Rest in Peace, Diogo and André. We will all miss you."
His sister Katia also mounted a passionate defence, describing the criticism as "absurdly shameful" and explaining how their father's funeral had been overwhelmed by cameras and onlookers.
"When my father died, in addition to the pain of loss, we had to deal with a flood of cameras and curious onlookers at the cemetery and everywhere we went," she wrote on Instagram.
"And attention was not what it is today in terms of access... At no time were we (the children) able to leave the chapel; it was only possible at the time of the burial, such was the commotion.
"At the funeral, there were presidents, coaches of the national team at the time, such as Luís Filipe Scolari, etc. I don't remember seeing any of them. And they certainly greeted me. The pain blinded me.
"About pain/family and real support... You will never know what it means until you go through it. If someone sends me a message criticising anything my brother does, I will block it (completely ignore it), that is, they will only do it once.
"It's getting tiring. The fanaticism. The criticism for nothing, I repeat nothing... Sick society... We all have families.
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Diogo Jota and Andre Silva were laid to rest in Portugal following their tragic deaths last month
| PA"It is absurdly shameful to watch TV channels/commentators/social networks emphasising an absence (wise) rather than respectfully honouring the pain of a mutilated family destroyed by the loss of two brothers. I am even ashamed to watch. Regrettable.
"And so the world goes... Society and opinion. Today they are worthless. They themselves have become bottomless pits. I feel sorry... And war is also like that. Believe me. Human evil is also a war. And every day we have to fight against it. And so it goes."
Liverpool have retired Jota's No 20 shirt as a mark of respect.
He won numerous titles during his time at Anfield including the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.