Cristiano Ronaldo Disses Lionel Messi, MLS, European Football While Talking Up Saudi Arabian League

Just when everyone stateside was having a good time welcoming soccer star Lionel Messi to the MLS, here comes Cristiano Ronaldo to piss on the parade all the way from the Middle East. (Actually he was in Portugal at the time, but you get what I mean.)

Ronaldo isn't impressed by the level of competitiveness in the MLS and took some time after a preseason game to put the league on blast.

According to ESPN, the Portuguese star was asked about the prospect of him making a move to the States a la Messi, and he quickly put his foot down at the idea.

"The Saudi league is better than MLS," Ronaldo said.

He argued that he doesn't need to leave the Middle East because some of the best players in the world are joining him in Saudi Arabia.

"I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here," he said. "In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league."

Ah, yes. Those Dutch and Turkish leagues we all hear so much about...

Messi Also Slammed European Soccer In The Same Interview

It's worth noting that Ronaldo made these comments following a blowout 5-0 preseason loss to Spanish club Celta Vigo in his native Portugal.

Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr paid Ronaldo a boatload of cash. He seems mad because he's yesterday's news now that everyone is focused on Messi going to the US.

Ronaldo can pump up Saudi Arabia all he wants. Do you know what he can't do over there? Mosey into Publix and get a Pub sub on his days off like Messi can.

As for whether or not he'll ever return to Europe, Ronaldo said probably not, thanks to his age and the decline in quality seen in every European league save for the English Premier League.

"I'm 100 percent sure I won't return to any European club," Ronaldo said. "I'm 38 years old. And European football has lost a lot of quality. The only valid one and still doing good is the Premier League. They're way ahead of all the other leagues."

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