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'Superstar'Cristiano Ronaldo (39, Alnasr) shot French Ligue 1 again'out of the blue'.
Ronaldo attended the Globe Soccer Awards (GSA) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on the 28th (local time) and said, `The Saudi professional league is better than the French league. I'm not saying that because I played in Saudi Arabia. It doesn't matter what people think. You'll find out when you come in person. Try sprinting at 38, 39 and 40 degrees..."
Ronaldo said "If you can't believe it, come over. There is only Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in France. The other teams are all done. No one can beat PSG. It's because PSG spent the most money and had the best players."
There are two main reasons for Ronaldo's remarks that the Saudi league is better. There are no competitive teams other than PSG, and the Saudi League is played in a worse environment. There doesn't seem to be much ground. The official SNS account of the Spanish version of Ligue 1 posted a picture of Ronaldo's rival Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) holding the trophy at the 2022 Qatar World Cup and countered by saying, "Messi who played in 38 degrees weather." Messi played for PSG from 2021 to 2023.
Ligue 1, where Lee Kang-in has been in the UEFA league rankings for the second season, ranks fifth after the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga and German Bundesliga. It is included in the so-called `Five Major Leagues.'
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| Ligne's official SNS that hit back at Ronaldo's remarks. |
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Ligue 1 ranks fifth with 83.1 points in the `Global Football Rankings' (GFR), which ranks 75 leagues around the world in real time. The Saudi league is 31st with 72.6 points. It is lower than the K League (74.7 points, 20th) and even the French League 2 (72.7 points, 30th).
GFR not only scores 0-100 points for each league based on the importance of the game, league level, league and club market value, and global competitiveness. The higher the score, the higher the league level.
This is not the first time Ronaldo has ignored Ligue 1. While commenting on his failure to lead his team Alnasr to a league championship in January "I honestly don't think the Saudis are inferior to France. France has a couple of good quality teams. Saudi Arabia is more competitive now. It's still developing." He also said that it could become one of the world's top three leagues in the future.
Soccer media 'Goal Dotcom' interpreted Ronaldo's remarks as meaning that it is more difficult to win in Saudi Arabia than in France. Ronaldo left Manchester United for Saudi Arabia in January 2023 and has not won the league for two consecutive seasons. This season, they are not likely to win the title as they are lagging behind RT Hard and Al Hilal. Alnasr remains in fourth place with 25 points as of the 13th round. 11 points clear of the leader RT Hard (36 points).
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Meanwhile, Ronaldo won the Middle East's Most Valuable Player Award and the most goalscoring award ever at the ceremony. Ronaldo has scored a total of 916 goals for his team and the national team. He set his final goal of 1,000 unanswered goals.
Ronaldo claimed that Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), who won the Most Valuable Player Award at the Globus Soccer Awards, should have received the Ballon d'Or in 2024. He said "That's why I like the Globo Soccer Awards. They are honest."
As for Manchester United, who was in a slump, he directly hit the front desk saying, `The problem with the club is not the coach,' and said he wanted to achieve more as a member of the Portuguese national team.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
