Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken out on his decision to not attend the funeral of former Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota, who tragically died in a car crash in July
Diogo Jota and Cristiano Ronaldo
Diogo Jota and Cristiano Ronaldo (Image: Getty Images)
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Cristiano Ronaldo has defended his decision not to attend the funeral of Diogo Jota, the former Liverpool and Portugal forward, who tragically died in a car accident last July.
Jota, along with his brother Andre Silva, was en route to the port city of Santander to catch a ferry back to the UK when their Lamborghini spun off the road and burst into flames near Zamora, Spain, following a tyre blowout.
The funeral took place in their hometown of Gondomar, Portugal just two days after their deaths were confirmed, with several former teammates present. However, one notable absentee was Ronaldo, who had played alongside Jota in the Portugal national team for six years.
Ronaldo has now explained his absence from the funeral in an interview on Piers Morgan's YouTube channel. He said: "People criticised me a lot, I don't care about that because when you feel free you don't have to worry about what the people say. But one of the things I don't do is, after my father died I have never been to a cemetery again.
"Second, and you know my reputation, wherever I go it's a circus. I didn't go also because if I go the attention goes to me and I don't want this kind of attention.
"I saw, and I'm not criticising it, when you go into a sensitive moment, you do interviews to speak about him and speak about football. Come on guys what is this..
Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota
Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to attend Diogo Jota's funeral
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"This shows how secret life is sometimes, I am not part of that. If you want to be part of this world, good luck but I am going to be on the other side. People can continue to criticise me, but I felt good with my decision."
Despite Ronaldo's absence at Jota's funeral, he paid his respects to the former Liverpool player and shared the moment he learned about his passing.
"I was with Geo (Georgina Rodriguez) alone," said 40-year-old Ronaldo. "I was in our period of rest in the gym in the morning. I didn't believe it when they sent me the messages. I cried a lot, Geo can confirm that.
"It was a difficult moment for the country, for the family, for friends, for teammates. It was very sad news."
Jota had been advised against flying post lung surgery and planned to sail back to England with his brother. They were en route to Santander, with an overnight stop off in Benavente, and were due to catch a ferry back to Portsmouth.
He had spent time in his homeland after coming on as a substitute in Portugal's penalty shootout victory over Spain in the final of the Nations League on June 8. During his stay, he married his long-term partner and mother of his three children, Rute Cardoso, in a ceremony in Porto just 11 days before his untimely death.