Cristiano Ronaldo in dig at old rival Lionel Messi: 'Saudi league is better than MLS'

Cristiano Ronaldo has played down the significance of his old rival Lionel Messi's move to the United States by claiming that the Saudi Pro League is stronger than Major League Soccer.

The 38-year-old also closed the door on ever returning to European football and insists he is totally committed to his Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.

Messi was unveiled as MLS club Inter Miami's superstar new signing on Sunday with thousands of fans turning out in the pouring rain to welcome their new hero, who turned down the chance to join Ronaldo in the kingdom this season.

Hopes are high in the US that the arrival of the 36-year-old seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, who spent the last two seasons in the French capital with Paris Saint-Germain, can be a transformative one for the league.

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham described the signing as a “dream come true” for the club, while MLS commissioner Don Garber said: “We have no doubt that Lionel will show the world that MLS can be a league of choice for the best players in the game.

But Ronaldo – speaking after Al Nassr's 5-0 friendly humbling against Celta Vigo in Portugal on Monday – believes that his presence in the Middle East is the start of something special for the Saudi league.

“100 per cent. It’s a fact,” Ronaldo said. “It was going to take a year, but it was six months. I was wrong for six months.

“But I knew this was going to happen because in the Italian league, when I went there, it was also dead and then rejuvenated.

“Where Cristiano goes, it generates greater interest and I knew it was going to be like that. I’m sure that next season more stars will go there [to Saudi Arabia].

“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will