As Lionel Messi makes it to the MLS, his lifelong rival Cristiano Ronaldo has hailed the Saudi league, saying it’s better.
• Also read: Lionel Messi jumps on the field
Speaking to the media after playing the first half of a pre-season match his club Al-Nassr lost 5-0 to Celta de Vigo in his native Portugal, Ronaldo argued that the Saudi Pro League is better than the MLS and that he does not intend to. Going to play in the US or back to Europe.
“The Saudi League is better than the American League,” he said when asked to comment on Lionel Messi’s decision to move to North America.
“It paved the way for Saudi Arabia and now all the players come here.”
He says this because in recent weeks several important players have taken action, including Karim Benzema, Marcelo Brozovic, N’Golo Kante and Roberto Firmino.
“In a year, more and more players will come to Saudi Arabia. In a year, this league will overtake the Turkish League and the Dutch League,” Ronaldo believes.
Here for good
Ronaldo joined Al-Nasr Club last January after his acrimonious divorce from Manchester United.
So he is entering his first full season in Saudi Arabia and stressing that he will not return to the other side of the Mediterranean because he believes the level of play in Europe has dropped in recent years.
I am 100% sure that I will not return to a European club. I’m 38, and the quality of European football has fallen a lot. The only circuit that is still valid and working well is the English Premier League. “It’s far ahead of the others,” Ronaldo, who once reached the heights of Real Madrid, believes.
