Former Chelsea legend Eden Hazard criticized Cristiano Ronaldo regarding his stance with the Saudi Pro League.
During the Globe Soccer Awards last month, the Al-Nassr superstar claimed that the Saudi Pro League is more competitive than France’s Ligue 1.
“To be honest, I think the Saudi League is not worse than the French League, in my opinion,” Ronaldo said.
“In [the] French league, I think you have two, three teams with a good level.”
“In Saudi now, I think it’s more competitive. They can say whatever they want, it’s just my opinion, and I played there one year, so I know what I’m talking about. But I think right now we are better than [the] French league, we still improve.”
Hazard, 33, disagreed with Ronaldo’s take, saying a Ligue 1 team will defeat any Saudi League clubs.
Although Saudi has more high-profile players like Ronaldo, Neymar, and Karim Benzema, Hazard claimed that Ligue 1 has big teams.
“I’m not agreeing with him, but that’s just an opinion,” Hazard said.
“If you look at the league in Saudi Arabia, they have big players, it’s just that they’re not big teams. In France, maybe now, they have fewer big players, but they have big teams.”
“I’m sure if a Ligue 1 team played against a Saudi Arabian team, they would win. Maybe not easily, like people might think, but the level in France is good. I’m watching their league, and they have talent.”
Hazard, who called it a career in 2023, last played for Real Madrid.
Hazard’s £100m contract with Madrid was considered as the worst signing in the club’s history.
He only played 76 games with Real Madrid from 2019 until his retirement, tallying only seven goals and 12 assists.
However, Hazard won eight trophies with Los Blancos: one European Cup, one Club World Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, and two Spanish Super Cups.
