Cristiano Ronaldo with announcement: ‘The door to European football is closed’

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Cristiano Ronaldo (38) is back in Portugal. At least temporarily. He does part of the pre-season training in his home country with his club Al-Nassr. There was a friendly match against Celta Vigo on Monday evening. There was not much to celebrate for the superstar. Ronaldo was substituted after 48 minutes, his team lost 0:5.

After the game, the 2016 European champions spoke about their current situation at a press conference. And makes it clear: “I will not return to European football, the door is completely closed.” Ronaldo immediately gives a reason for this. “I am 38 years old and European football has lost a lot of quality.” He only praises the Premier League, which is “far ahead of all other leagues”.

Ronaldo does not regret his decision to move to Saudi Arabia. On the contrary. He has taken a lot of criticism for the move to Al-Nassr, but you can now see where that led. He draws the comparison with the time he went to Italy. When he moved to Juventus Turin, Serie A was dead and “after I signed it was revived”.

Cleared the way for other players

That is the effect it evokes. Or as Ronaldo himself says: “Wherever Cristiano goes, he arouses more interest.” No wonder he says he paved the way for all players to move to Saudi Arabia. The fact is that his transfer was “100 percent crucial to getting new top players”.

A look at the list of players who recently moved to the desert state seems to agree with Ronaldo. Names such as Édouard Mendy (Al-Ahli), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal) and Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad) now earn their money in Saudi Arabia. And Ronaldo is convinced that this is not the end of the road. “In a year more and more top players will come to Saudi Arabia.” He insists afterwards: “Then the Saudi league will catch up with the Turkish and Dutch leagues.” (bir)

Source : Blick