Cristiano Ronaldo comment goes viral after Man City's defeat to Al Hilal and everyone owes him an apology
Cristiano Ronaldo's comments about the Saudi Pro League have gone viral after Al Hilal produced a huge upset to knock Manchester City out of the Club World Cup at the round of 16.
Pep Guardiola's side were beaten 4-3 in extra time by the Saudi side, with Marcos Leonardo scoring the winner with his second goal in the 112th minute.
Former Barcelona star Malcom and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly were also on target for Simone Inzaghi's men at the Camping World Stadium, with Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden finding the net in defeat.
Al Hilal, who scored four goals from their six shots on target, will now take on Brazilian outfit Fluminense in the quarter final on Friday.
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Despite a wealth of top players moving to Saudi off the back off Ronaldo's game-changing move to Al Nassr, the league has still not been taken seriously.
What did Cristiano Ronaldo say about the Saudi Pro League?
Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo has constantly praised the level and back in December, at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, he said that the Saudi Pro League would soon "be in the top three or four [leagues] in the world".
In addition to that, Ronaldo claimed that Ligue One was worse than the Saudi Pro League, stating that the "rest is finished" after dominant champions Paris Saint-Germain, who "nobody competes" with.
In a new interview with Al Nassr's channels after extending his stay with the Riyadh club by penning a new £340 million deal, Ronaldo doubled down on previous comments and stated that his view has not changed.
“Only the people who never played in Saudi [criticise the league],” Ronaldo said, as per The Telegraph.
“They don’t understand nothing [sic] about football and say this league is not in the top five. I believe 100 per cent in my words and the people who play in this league, they know what I am talking about.
“So this is why I want to stay because I believe in the project."
Al Hilal drew 1-1 with 15-time European champions Real Madrid in the group stages and also held Red Bull Salzburg to a goalless draw before defeating Pachuca 2-0.
The club have spent close to £400 million on new players in two years, including the disappointing £77.6 million deal for Neymar and moves for household names like Ruben Neves, Renan Lodi, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Yassine Bounou and Joao Cancelo.
Having taken the post immediately after leaving Inter Milan following the Champions League, Inzaghi has had an excellent start to life at Al Hilal and paid tribute to his players for a stunning victory.
"The key to this result was the players, the heart they put on the pitch," he said after the triumph.
"We had to do something extraordinary because we knew how good Manchester City are, we knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and we were great. Guardiola is the best coach in the world but we did our best and we deserved the result.”
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Al Nassr, Man City
Josh Lawless