Cristiano Ronaldo: Al Nassr star Cristiano Ronaldo has taken a dig at Lionel Messi saying Saudi Pro League is better than MLS. It is not the first time the Portuguese has said something controversial about the World Cup winner Argentine. However, this is not the only thing Ronaldo said as he also claimed Europe has lost its quality and has no intention of returning. He previously said that the Saudi Pro League will become one of the World’s top 5 leagues and his words now seem to echo that.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two of this generation’s greatest footballers. Their rivalry is not only bound amongst their fans, but it also reflects on their careers. The two of them ruled European football once. Their rivalry especially peaked when Messi was playing for Barcelona and Ronaldo was with their rivals, Real Madrid at that time. However, now both of them have reached an age where they are closer to their retirements. At 38 years of age, Ronaldo decided to join the Saudi Pro League in January this year.
On the other hand, after winning the World Cup last year, Messi moved to the United States and joined the MLS side Inter Miami. Messi’s move to the MLS has gained unbelievable popularity in the country and worldwide. His recent unveiling at Inter Miami involved bigger-than-life arrangements. Ronaldo recently gave an interview with the Lisbon-based newspaper Abola where he was asked about his opinion on MLS. The Portuguese star said, “The USA? No, the Saudi championship is much better than the USA.”
Ronaldo also had a lot to say about European football now. He also indicated that at his age, he will not be returning to Europe anymore. He said, “Returning to Europe, for me, is a closed possibility, I’m already 38 years old and… it’s not worth it. Europe lost a lot of quality. The only one that is one of the best is the Premier League, the Spanish league lost its level, the Portuguese one is not ‘top’, the German one also lost a lot of quality.”
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Ronaldo, who rose to fame at the Premier League club, Manchester United has said that the English league is the only one that has value now. He discarded the Spanish League, La Liga where he spent some of the best years of his career at Real Madrid. Adding to his comments about the declined European football quality, he praised Saudi Pro League. He said, “In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league.”
It seems a far-fetched dream that Saudi Pro League will gain similar quality as European competitions. However, Ronaldo’s words do have some truth to them as following his move in January, the league has roped in several top-level players from Europe with lucrative salaries. In this transfer window alone, some big names, like Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Marcelo Brozovic, Edouard Mendy, Roberto Firmino, and more have joined the league. They have also hired former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard as Al Ettifaq’s new head coach.
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