07 December 2023 , 13:14
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Lionel Messi has admitted he nearly followed long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia but rejects the Portuguese legend's claim that the Middle Eastern football league is better than MLS.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr at the back end of last year after leaving Manchester United following an explosive interview with Piers Morgan. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner also endured a disappointing World Cup campaign alongside his Portuguese teammates in Qatar.
"The Saudi league is much better than the United States," Ronaldo declared, speaking to reporters after playing the first half of Al-Nassr's 5-0 friendly defeat to Spanish side Celta Vigo.
World Cup-winning Argentine Messi, 36, then joined David Beckham's Inter Miami in the summer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain ended. A move worth over a billion pounds was reportedly on offer from a Saudi team, as well as a return to his beloved Barcelona - but in the end, Messi chose MLS.
"The truth is that fortunately, I had several options on the table that were interesting, and I had to analyze them and think, even weigh them up with my family, before making the final decision to come to Miami," Messi told Time, after winning Time Magazine's Athlete of the Year for 2023. "My first option was to return to Barcelona, but it was not possible.
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"It is also true that later I was thinking a lot about going to the Saudi league, where I know the country and they have created a very powerful competition that can become an important league in the near future.
"As the country’s tourism ambassador, it was a destination that attracted me, especially because I’ve enjoyed everything I have visited, because of how football is growing in the country and because of the effort they are putting into creating a top competition.”
In the end, Messi chose to join Inter Miami (Getty)
Messi claimed an eighth Ballon d'Or this year, putting him three ahead of Ronaldo (Getty)Messi made an instant impact in Miami. He scored 11 goals and had five assists in 14 games, as the MLS franchise won the Leagues Cup and nearly made the playoffs. He also became the first active MLS player to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or, clinching an eighth at the end of October. Messi's name undoubtedly played a part in Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba joining the team too and it will continue to draw big names.
“The people who know me really well laughed,” says managing owner Jorge Mas. “The people who don’t know me were sort of really respectful. They’d turn around and go, ‘This is way out of his league.’”
Mas added: "My biggest message to him was ‘Listen, few times in history has an uber-athlete been in a position to change a sport in a country'. ‘You have the opportunity to change the sport in the largest commercial market in the world, which is the United States of America.’”