RIYADH — Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed the Saudi Pro League is better than MLS just two days after Lionel Messi was unveiled as a new Inter Miami player.
The rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi remains intact even with the football stars now plying their trade in different continents.
Messi, the 36-year-old Argentinian forward, was officially signed by Major League Football’s Inter Miami, Ronaldo took a verbal shot at his longtime foe, maintaining that his new league in Saudi Arabia is better than MLS.
Speaking to reporters via the Mirror, the Portuguese soccer legend made the incredible suggestion that Saudi Arabia’s top-flight is better than MLS, with Ronaldo saying: “The Saudi league is much better than MLS.
“My decision to go to Saudi was 100% crucial for clubs to bring in new top players. It’s a fact.”
Ronaldo, the veteran Portuguese forward, joined Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr earlier this year.
Ronaldo said, according to Lisbon sports newspaper A Bola, “Returning to Europe, for me, is a closed possibility, I’m already 38 ½ 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. The USA? No, the Saudi championship is much better than the USA.”
Since Ronaldo’s arrival, the Saudi league has also attracted other international stars such as France’s Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante, Brazil’s Roberto Firmino, Senegal’s Edouard Mendy, Serbia’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Croatia’s Marcelo Brozovic.
Ronaldo added, “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.”
Even Messi was strongly linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, a country the Argentine superstar is controversially sponsored by. However, the 35-year-old opted for a move to MLS with Inter Miami, signing a contract some hundred million dollars short of what the forward would have earned in the Middle East.
Ronaldo made his remarks after Al Nassr lost 5-0 in a preseason friendly against Spanish top-division side Celta Vigo at Faro, Portugal.
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