Nobody does it better...
Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr
- Thread starter Bastian
- Start date
The 26th best league in the world...
The stats say he is doing very well…
The ever willing substitute that he was.
Personally why he is my favourite player ever is because of the leagues he has played in more than his actual capability to play football.
Even at this age he chose the Saudi League which seemed more talent bound than the MLS atleast from what I have seen in transfers & potential transfers yet to come.
He just doesn't wan't & never wants an easy career.
Played in Portugal, England x 2, Spain, Italy and the Saudi League.
Would be great to see him in the Budensliga on a loan for a while.
It's kind of why Ibrahimovic is one of my favourite players ever too & why I think he has that similiair Robot/bodybuilder like build of a human like Ronaldo had to go play in every league needing different levels of both technicality & physicality. They went to nearly every top league possible and done very very well.
Even at this age he chose the Saudi League which seemed more talent bound than the MLS atleast from what I have seen in transfers & potential transfers yet to come.
He just doesn't wan't & never wants an easy career.
Played in Portugal, England x 2, Spain, Italy and the Saudi League.
Would be great to see him in the Budensliga on a loan for a while.
It's kind of why Ibrahimovic is one of my favourite players ever too & why I think he has that similiair Robot/bodybuilder like build of a human like Ronaldo had to go play in every league needing different levels of both technicality & physicality. They went to nearly every top league possible and done very very well.
I forsee endless interactions between you and Heraklion in the near future...I hope not and that I'm wrong in my prejudice, so I'll try my best:
Him like others choose the Saudi League for the insane ammount of money they were splashing in transfers, that he keeps it pro because of who he is, it's another matter.
Also in his case, extra profits with his allegiance to the League itself and even the country from a bizzness perspective.
PD: BTW there are already quite a lot of issues regarding contracts and professionalism of many of the latest transfers that might end killing the League if the trend continues. More or less like what happened with the Chinese one recently.
In fact if you want to put a bet on a country with potential to create a trully better league with the financial and sport culture behind, USA it's a better bet, happening or not.
But let's be plain here and talk about the elephant in the room in your post: Messi...him and CR chose their respective leagues more than anything to:
1. Remain playing
2. Earning buckloads of money and future bizness
3. Keep themselves fit for their NTs
4...and like I've said keep playing, they just love to play. Plus in the in case of CR, he also seeks more stats: goals, no matter when or where.
That both will remain pro and want to win stuff even in these non traditional leagues, does not make both leagues right now nothing more than emergent projects.
Regarding him leaving Madrid, it was a DEAL of Madrid not wanting his ego around in these renovating years and him wanting to still be the MAIN man on another big team. Reading more than that, it's silly. On the other hand moving from Sporting to Man Utd and from Man Utd to Real were absolutely carreer changing decisions. Not the Juve one, nor the late Man Utd cameo.
I do think that he could still be a more than a valuable asset on any team from a traditional League in the World, from Europe or SA.
The issue might be him clashing with some coach if he is not first team choice or if he has to rotate, that I think is the major reason other Euro clubs didn't push harder to get him after Man Utd.
If he was easier to handle and him adapting more to his age, he could even still be in Man Utd or any side, but it just doesn't suit CR's temper.
Last edited:
Even if he was willing to play as a sub only Man Utd would be willing to pay him what he wants. Which wouldn't reflect his role in the team.
That's what I thought. Incredibly poor goalkeeping.
It's impossible to ask them (including the best player of all time) to sit on the bench when they are still making a history. The idea of being respectfully acknowledged as GOATs at what they do is beyond my imagination, can't put myself in their shoes. but i am sure they'd be pissed off if anyone told them to stop for any reason.
He played for Ferguson's United, a Real Madrid side that was heavily invested into, a Juventus side that was by far the best in Italy. Even the current Saudi side he plays for is one of the 2 or 3 best in that league. And about the Saudi League, yes there has been investment but it is in 4 teams only and that too in only attacking positions. Honestly it is pre-retirement and he is actually done at the top level.
Well literally no team in any of Europe's leagues agrees with you. Saudi wasn't his first, second or tenth choice. He's made the best of it but it is probably his level now. That's fine, he's as old as me and in marginally better shape. But top level modern football is understandably beyond him now.
Ronaldo lives in some of your heads rent free, honestly everyone knows he's in his retirement years. How do you even have the energy for this?
If he had reasonable wage demands and wouldn't turn into dressing room cancer any time he's benched, he would still be an asset for almost any team in the world in a squad. Top level football is not beyond his current levels, he's just too egotistical to ever be a squad player or not be the highest paid player in his team.
TBF the bigging up of the Saudi League is insane from some of the posters here. And Ronaldo himself. I did though comment that his hattrick yesterday was classy and it was, irrespective of the quality of the opposition.
Why would he not big it up? He's literally the face of it and undoubtedly has vested interests in it's growth. Why do you think we're seeing so much Messi media around Inter Miami as well? These are human brands and they will be milked for all they're worth by their respective leagues.
Because he makes himself a delusional meme. Messi doesnt talk much, but I doubt we´ll be seeing him saying that the MLS is on par with the top leagues in Europe.
Yeah, I think more than anything, I try to look at the quality of the goals he's scoring, his technique, his body positioning... Those things tell more about how good of a player he still is, more than scoring a billion goals in Saudi League. He scores the same quality goals he did in United 2 years ago. Many of his goals have been purely based on that, and not exactly opponent quality.
But in the end, it's still the Saudi League. I think he's a pretty good football player even at this age, but I just can't come here and assume he could do X numbers at X team in Europe because of how he's perfoming here. I just can't come here and scream he's one of the best right now because well, inherently, most of the league isn't up to European standards in terms of quality. I am curious about the Euro this summer to see how he does.
Exactly this.
Every time I scroll through there's just seas of wasters moaning about him.
He can't win. Scores - it's just a crap league, doesn't score - he can't even score in a crap league
There's still genuinely people who reckon that "no" European team wanted him. Loads would have taken him, just not at 50m a season or whatever it is!
Bigging up is one thing, making butthurt statements like Saudi League is better than Ligue 1 or Portuguese League is another thing especially after his disgraceful exit from the European football with numerous rejections.
Teams like Bayern had serious discussions about him, so it definitely wasn't that black or white about teams not wanting him. Oliver Kahn did come out saying he was a fantastic footballer but didn't fit with Bayern's transfer DNA, which means wages for sure, but you know, while I thought he could've kept going in Europe, he was comfortable polling other clubs while keeping the tremendous wages, while I thought he should just lower wages as a trade off for showing everyone he was still good enough to compete in Europe, but if that wasn't Ronaldo's vision, I'm certainly not one to agree or disagree with him. He played it like he thought he should play it, he ended up in Saudi Arabia, he looks happy, so all good.
Like Ronaldo, I felt Messi could probably get any contract under the right circumstances in Europe after PSG, but when I tune in to watch his team in the MLS sporadically, he seems to be having a lot of fun and seems committed to the cause, so more power to him as well for that move to the MLS.
Exactly this.
Every time I scroll through there's just seas of wasters moaning about him.
He can't win. Scores - it's just a crap league, doesn't score - he can't even score in a crap league
There's still genuinely people who reckon that "no" European team wanted him. Loads would have taken him, just not at 50m a season or whatever it is!
There's still genuinely people who think Ronaldo couldn't find a team in Europe because he asked for 50m a season.
This is why people so frequently use the word delusion for Ronaldo and his fans.
"Cristiano Ronaldo was 'rejected by numerous Champions League teams despite being available for just £80k-a-week - and with Manchester United offering to pay the bulk of his wages' - before sealing £175m-a-year move to Al-Nassr"
www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11598479/Cristiano-Ronaldo-rejected-numerous-teams-despite-available-just-80k-week.html
Last edited:
Can very much deny, as evidenced by how awful he was for us off the bench and also for Portugal at the World Cup alongside his tempter tantrum with Piers.
oh so we don’t need people scoring hatricks for us now? i’ve heard it all.
He was very poor back then. But the sudden drop from 21/22 to what we saw under ETH could be explained by his personal life.
And even in his current state, it’s hard to believe he’d be useful at the top level. Of course he’s still a decent finisher, but is it really worth the drama around him ?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say he probably doesn't care what random people on social media think of him, so will continue to advertise the league that makes him money?
Hardly a limb. I don't see a point.
And, nobody cares about what BS he says about Saudi League etc, he's a symbol of delusion & excessive ego in the football world. His persona is already associated with delusion, he's only adding more to this perception with those statements.
This is also not upselling, rather he's making people laugh, everybody knows why he compared that league with Ligue 1 or MLS. Nobody will begin perceiving Saudi League better than Ligue 1 or Portuguese league less than Saudi league because he said so other than some of his delusional fans.
Last edited:
You're point was he shouldn't advertise the league because 'it makes him a delusional meme'. I said I don't think he cares what randomers online think of him...
Be honest, do you think your reasoning is valid for why a person would not oversell a product they have a vested interest in?
I thought you were talking about Messi in response to my post. I think yeah in terms of money, selling the saudi project brings him money. Even in the goat discussion, he trying to make it seem like his goals scored in the 26th ranked league means something which is why he explicitly stabbed at ligue 1. I think he's narcissistic in the sense that his stature or perceived stature matters to him but all those things take a nosedive whenever he contradicts himself at any given opportunity. I think he would be far more respected if he dropped the inferiority complex.
It's less to do with Ronaldo, and more to do with his fanboys. Winding them up will always remain one of life's great pleasures. I still chuckle at the thought that so many of these clowns have dedicated so much of their lives to convince themselves that their hero was better than Messi.
So you think Messi is a delusional meme?
If he starts selling the MLS as being only beneath the PL then yes. Or as good as the best European leagues then yes.
If you had a medal for every time you've wound up a Ronaldo fanboy on the internet you'd have as many as Ronaldo himself
The only club stupid enough to sign an obviously over-the-hill Ronaldo on stupid money and actually treating him as a "fantastic" player was United - and we all witnessed how that went. There's zero chance Bayern would have made the same mistake.
Kahn's comment was polite/diplomatic - obviously.
As much as I love United and Ronaldo, specially together - I never wanted him to rejoin us the 2nd time.
It had everything to go wrong (which it did), and in my humble view, the squad was in such bad shape it spent a season with a 37 year old adding multiple digits in points to the team in the league with his goals, and contributing massively to United ever going to the final 16 in the CL, all while wanting to keep on winning, keeping on training his hardest, keeping on not being happy seeing United out of the CL spots in the league - all while many of his other colleagues gave up midway through the season. It shouldn't have to be this way.
Him coming back just encapsulated everything that was wrong with our club. Terrible decision making by the board. Emotional decisions and signings are not good for any club. I'd rather not speak about the 22/23 season. They should've let him go when he wanted to, and he just plummeted in performance and went through a patch so bad that well, there's really nothing I can say to defend him there.
Bayern are the complete opposite. As you said, no way they would take him on the wages he wanted. It just made zero sense for them, which is logical and I wish United had thought things through as well.
Edit: I'll stay with the good memories from the first stint with Sir Alex Ferguson, those were the days. Sir Alex seemed like not only an amazing manager, but also someone who would also be able to run the club fairly decently
I think the problem is that he is in his retirement years but his cult insist on ensuring that he gets coverage and clicks completely out of sync with someone in their retirement years in a retirement league. Which is partly understandable, given what he's achieved previously, but the rest of us don't have to pretend that he's doing something astonishing by scoring hat-tricks in Saudi. The number of times I've seen lists of the top scorers in 2024 or this season or whatever on social media and he's on there as if what he's doing is comparable to the stats of players in Europe, I mean.....well you just have to laugh.