Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s professional careers may be separated by continents at present, but it seems their rivalry is still alive and kicking.

In what could be considered a dig at Messi’s move to Major League Soccer in the United States, Cristiano, who currently plays for Al Nassr, has called the Saudi Pro League “better” than its American counterpart.

“Now all the players are coming here (Saudi Arabia). In one year, more top players will come to Saudi Arabia,” said Cristiano, according to Lisbon sports newspaper A Bola.

Cristiano has spent time in Europe with Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, but he believes that with the likes of Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, N’Golo Kante and Marcelo Brozovic joining him in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East is the place to be.

“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year, the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and the Dutch league,” the Portuguese superstar claimed.

Cristiano was speaking to the media after playing the first half of Al Nassr’s 0-5 pre-season friendly defeat to La Liga side Celta Vigo at Faro, Portugal.

While Cristiano signed for Al Nassr earlier this year, Inter Miami unveiled Messi on Sunday.

Answering a question on whether he would return to European club football, Cristiano said: “Returning to Europe, for me, is a closed possibility, I’m already 38-and-a-half 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 US? No, the Saudi championship is much better than the US.”

That might be his current opinion, but in the past, Cristiano had said that he wanted to retire with dignity and not in the US, Qatar or Dubai.

Cristiano has also claimed that Italian Serie A was dead before he joined Juventus in 2018.

The former Juventus striker issued a defiant statement, saying: “When I joined Juventus, Serie A was dead and then after I signed, it was revived.

“Wherever Cristiano goes, he generates higher interest.”

He said that he has paved the way for other top players to sign with Saudi teams. “I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here.”

Several other high-profile players, like Manchester United’s Alex Telles and Jordan Henderson of Liverpool, are also in talks with Saudi clubs.

Written with Reuters inputs