Cristiano Ronaldo claims he will be a prolific goalscorer in the English Premier League as he currently is in Saudi Arabia.
The Al-Nasr captain won the title of top scorer in the Saudi Professional League in the past two seasons.
“Year after year, I score more,” Ronaldo said in an interview with Piers Morgan.
“Even in a bad year (when Al-Nasr finished without a title), I scored 25 goals. If I played in the Premier League, and now in a big team, I would score the same! If I had a good team, and I was 40 years old, I would score the same.”
Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nasr in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United, believes that the Saudi Professional League does not get the respect it deserves.
The former Real Madrid star said: “I don’t need to talk because they can say whatever they want, but the numbers don’t lie.”
“They say things about the Saudi League, but they’ve never been here, they’ve never played here. They don’t know what it’s like to run in 40 degrees Celsius. They don’t know. And I keep repeating the Saudi League, it’s much better than the Portuguese League, of course.”
“The French League is only Paris Saint-Germain. The English Premier League is good, of course, it is number one.”
Ronaldo added that it was easier for him to score in the Spanish League compared to the Saudi Professional League. He said: “Ask other players if the league is good. Don’t ask me because it is easy to ask me because I always say, ‘Oh, Cristiano says that because he plays in Saudi Arabia.’”
“No, no. I’ve played everywhere. Everywhere. For me, registering in Spain is easier than registering in Saudi Arabia.” Ronaldo, who has scored 952 goals in his career and holds the men’s world record for most international goals, says the key to his success is that he is always learning.
“You learn with experience, over time,” he said. “What makes the difference is that you can improve all the time, even at my age. That’s the big mistake players make, they think they know everything and they don’t learn anymore. Players think they know everything and after a certain age they slow down. I keep learning. I’ve scored more goals after the age of 30.”
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When asked if he was thinking about achieving 1,000 goals in the 2026 World Cup finals, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the Portugal captain said: “I am not thinking about that. We have not qualified yet. I am enjoying the moment.”
Meanwhile, Ronaldo addressed comments made by his former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney, who said Lionel Messi was better than the Portuguese striker.
Messi and Ronaldo monopolized the Ballon d’Or while at Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
“No problem,” Ronaldo said. “I’m not crazy. He can choose. I don’t have anything against him. I respect him. I don’t have time to be against people anymore.”
When asked if he considered himself the best in the world, Ronaldo said: “I don’t care about that anymore.”
