Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal have been two of the standout players in world soccer, with the former winning the most recent Golden Boot and the latter finishing runner-up in the 2025 Ballon d’Or. But Cristiano Ronaldo has now taken aim at La Liga, offering a candid defense of the Saudi Pro League.
Since joining Al Nassr in December 2022, Ronaldo has become the face and ambassador of Saudi soccer, a nation whose influence in the sport has grown rapidly. Beyond attracting a wave of European stars, Saudi Arabia is also set to host the 2034 World Cup. Still, the SPL continues to be downplayed in comparison to Europe’s top leagues.
Speaking to Piers Morgan on his YouTube channel, Ronaldo openly addressed perceptions surrounding him and the Saudi league: “Even in a bad year I score 25 goals. If I played in the Premier League now, for a top team, I would score the same (as in the SPL). I don’t need to speak, because they can say whatever they want, the numbers don’t lie. They can say ‘oh, it’s the Saudi league’ – they’ve never been here, played here, they don’t know how to run in 40 degrees.“
The Portuguese star then reaffirmed his comments made last year at the Globe Soccer Awards, where he placed the SPL over several European competitions. “And I still continue, I repeat, the Saudi league, it’s much better than the Portuguese league of course, the French league there is only PSG. Premier League is good of course, it’s the number one,” Ronaldo stated.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr FC during the King’s Cup against Al Ittihad.
Ronaldo ended with his boldest remark, drawing a sharp distinction between scoring in La Liga and scoring in Saudi Arabia: “Ask the other players if the league is good. It’s easy to ask me because everyone say the same that ‘Cristiano said that because he plays in Saudi.’ Listen, I’ve played everywhere, for me, it’s easier to score in Spain than to score in Saudi.“
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Is scoring in La Liga easier than in the SPL?
La Liga, traditionally dominated by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, is still widely regarded as one of the world’s top leagues, a status reflected in its clubs’ success in European competitions, especially the UEFA Champions League. The Saudi Pro League, meanwhile, has undergone massive investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to attract world-class talent. But how do the leagues compare statistically?
Looking at the 2024–25 season, La Liga, a league composed of 20 teams, saw 995 goals scored across 380 matches, averaging 2.62 goals per game. In that campaign, Mbappé captured the first Golden Boot of his career with 31 league goals.
The Saudi Pro League, featuring 18 clubs, produced 902 goals across 306 matches during the 2024–25 season, an average of 2.96 goals per game. Ronaldo won the SPL Golden Boot with 25 goals, beating Ivan Toney and Karim Benzema in the race, while finishing six behind Mbappé’s total in La Liga.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid looks on with his Golden Boot award.
For Ronaldo personally, his most prolific La Liga season came in 2014–15, when he scored 48 goals in 35 matches for Real Madrid, a benchmark that may influence his belief that scoring in Spain is easier. With Mbappé still far from that record despite winning the Golden Boot, and Yamal tallying only 17 La Liga goals across his first 80 games, the debate over whether the league has grown more defensive or whether attacking quality has dipped remains very much open.
