Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted he has no plans to leave Al-Nassr as the Saudi club play catch-up in this season's title race.
Ronaldo, who turns 40 in February, moved to Riyadh midway through the 2022/2023 season after his second spell at Manchester United came to a dramatic end. He has had no trouble climbing the scoring charts, but a league title continues to elude him.
The veteran is under contract until the end of the current season, with Al-Nassr currently in fourth place. They are around eleven points behind leaders Al-Ittihad, who have Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema up front.
Ronaldo has been linked with a return to Europe despite insisting his job on the continent was done at his Saudi unveiling in January 2023. He even suggested that the Saudi Pro League is superior to France's Ligue 1 – which provoked a sharp response from Adil Rami – and has now spoken in more depth about what lies ahead.
“I'm happy and my family is happy,” Ronaldo told the club media (via ESPN) as he marked two years as an Al-Nassr player. “We have started a new life in this beautiful country. Life is good, football is good. In terms of individually and collectively we are still there; we are still improving.
“For me it is an honor that the league is growing and that many star players are coming to make the league even better and more competitive,” he said. “It's an honor to be the first, let's say a star, to come here, but what I'm looking forward to is that the league continues to improve over the next five to ten years. Not just the first teams, but also the academies .
'Not just for the future of the Saudis [players] and the league, but for the country and to compete with other leagues this is my dream. And this is what I will try to do to help the country and the league to reach that level and be there. People see Cristiano as an example, not only on the pitch, but also off it.”
The update follows Ronaldo's comments about France's top level, where his great rival Lionel Messi previously spent two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain. However, France international Rami did not take kindly to the Portuguese and snapped back on his Twitch channel.
“He talks nonsense,” Rami said. “You want me to show you images of the defenders in Saudi Arabia. Just because he's had a crazy career doesn't mean that as soon as he says something it's the truth. I think it's a PR.” stunt. We have defenders, they are machines! You put it in Ligue 1 and it gets eaten.
“Cristiano Ronaldo, you know, I'm a fan. I'm Team Cristiano Ronaldo, but he made a mistake. When he says the Saudi championship is better than the one in France, he brings a lot of people with him.”
Comments