OLIVER HOLT: I never thought I would praise Gianni Infantino but at least he went to Pele's funeral

Most of what Gianni Infantino does and most of what he stands for these days seems specifically designed to trigger a gag reflex.

The recent footage of the FIFA president gazing adoringly at the absurdly self-regarding and relentlessly self-aggrandising celebrity chef, Salt Bae, at his restaurant in Dubai was but one small example of how Infantino appears utterly in thrall to money, celebrity and excess.

Infantino has made a habit of cosying up to Middle Eastern despots and embarrassing himself, and football, with his grovelling obsequiousness to authoritarian rulers such as the Emir of Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Infantino’s notorious ‘Today I feel gay’ speech on the eve of the World Cup was a low point of the entire tournament.

It was a grubby little misjudgment for FIFA to allow Salt Bae on to the pitch after the World Cup final between Argentina and France last month partly because his presence associated modern footballers, once again, with conspicuous consumption and people who think nothing of eating a steak caked in gold leaf and paying £1,450 for it. One more reason to love Lionel Messi was that he blanked Salt Bae as he pestered him on the pitch.

So it goes a little against the grain to defend Infantino for anything, but here goes: Infantino got a raw deal for his behaviour at Pele’s funeral wake in Santos last week when he was roundly criticised for taking a selfie with some of Pele’s former Santos FC team-mates close to where the body of the man many believe to be the greatest player of all time lay in an open casket.

It wasn’t a great look, admittedly, but the former players had asked Infantino for a picture and he was agreeing to their request. To have refused might have been better judged but it would also have been rude.

Nor was it quite as dissonant as it seems. The atmosphere at the wake was not as sombre as it would have been in the UK, perhaps. There was a degree of informality.

I queued up for a few hours with 230,000 other mourners to file past Pele’s coffin and there was an overwhelming feeling of wanting to celebrate the life of the man they refer to in his home country as ‘Rei’.

When we got into the stadium and walked across the turf where Pele had played for 18 years, nearing his casket, it was not just Infantino who was grasping a mobile phone: most people were taking selfies.

And here’s the other thing that makes me feel the criticism of Infantino, in this instance, is unfair. His presence seemed to give comfort to Pele’s family. The fact that the head of world football had made the journey to the port city two hours’ drive from Sao Paulo was a source of pride to them.

And that’s the crux of it, really: unlike most of Brazil’s past and present greats, unlike past football heroes from other countries, at least Infantino turned up.

The same could not be said of Ronaldo Nazario. Or Ronaldinho. Or Rivaldo. Or Kaka. Or Romario, who, in his defence, was never close to Pele. ‘Pele is a poet when his mouth’s shut,’ Romario said a decade ago.

There was no sign of Cafu, the 2002 World Cup-winning skipper, nor of Neymar, Brazil’s current talisman and the man who shares Brazil’s record of 77 goals for the national team with Pele. No sign of previous Brazil managers Tite, Dunga or Luiz Felipe Scolari.

It is hard to grasp, unless you were there, how savage the criticism was of those who stayed away. Pele had been the greatest living Brazilian and it was seen as a national insult that so many had not paid their respects in person. Perhaps because of his oft-professed piety, Kaka attracted most criticism.

After the criticism, the excuses began. Cafu said he was on the other side of the world and could not get a flight back in time. Rivaldo said: ‘The best tribute is in life and this I did and I have a very clear conscience.’ It was said that PSG had banned Neymar from attending but others pointed out that they had once given him permission to attend Carnival. So that excuse did not really stack up.

There should be no obligation for anyone to mourn in public, of course, and Rivaldo’s reasoning, that he treated Pele with respect and reverence when he was alive, is easy to sympathise with. But the absence of a single representative from the 2002 World Cup-winning squad and the absence of high-profile football figures from other countries was regrettable.

When he was working as a pundit in Qatar during the World Cup, Kaka, a member of that 2002 squad, said that Brazilians did not respect their own great footballers enough. ‘Ronaldo Nazario, in Brazil, is just a fat man walking down the street,’ he told television viewers. So it seemed ironic he could not be bothered to attend the funeral of the greatest Brazilian footballer.

There are several issues at play here. The most obvious is football’s lack of respect for its past. It was instructive that the apathy of former players for Pele’s memory contrasted with the public’s desire to show its respects.

Brazilian football is riven by inter- generational resentments and jealousies among players and, sadly, it appears that those were played out on a particularly public stage in Santos.

Brazilian sport is hardly alone in turning its back on former heroes. It is uncomfortable to acknowledge it even now, but Bobby Moore was cut adrift by the game in his final years and made a living working for Capital Gold with his great friend, the commentator Jonathan Pearce.

Moore loved his radio work and he was good at it but the game should have treated him better.

Today’s players take a lot from the game, a lot more than Pele’s generation. They deserve the money they make and I do not begrudge them, but their status makes it more important that they do the right thing and that, every so often, they give something back.

Look at the tireless work Marcus Rashford did in his campaign for free school meals for hungry kids. And the efforts by Jordan Henderson and Mark Noble in providing funds for the NHS during the pandemic. And Kenny Dalglish’s support for the grieving families of those killed at Hillsborough in 1989.

Football is full of examples of players and ex-players who make you proud of the sport but those who should have been in Santos last week stayed away.

Gianni Infantino did the right thing. Why couldn’t they?

A TRIBUTE TO VIALLI

I did not know Gianluca Vialli but I loved the Sampdoria team he was a part of and which reached the European Cup final against Barcelona in 1992. That game was at Wembley and it was the first European final I saw live and Vialli was a favourite of mine from then on.

I was lucky enough to speak to him for an hour or so over a Zoom call during the pandemic when he was publicising his autobiography. In that brief time in his company, he seemed every bit as gentle and humorous and self-deprecating and kind as all those who knew him well say he was.

After his death on Friday, it says everything that he will be remembered as a fine footballer and a better man.

GIVE POTTER THE SUPPORT HE DESERVES

Graham Potter has not become a bad manager in the short time since he joined Chelsea but he has moved from a well-run club staffed by smart executives to a club that was never long on patience and now appears to behaving like a basket case in the transfer market.

Potter represents Chelsea’s best hope of putting things right but he needs more support if the uncertainties created by the new ownership at Stamford Bridge are not to engulf him.