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Al Hilal forward Aleksander Mitrovic has credited Cristiano Ronaldo for the rise in Saudi Pro League interest. He believes that the Al Nassr star's move captured the attention of several players, leading to many moving to the Middle East last summer.
Speaking to the media, Mitrovic admitted that Ronaldo was the face of the league and should be credited for the arrival of several stars. He believes that the Portuguese forward made it clear that he wasn't crazy to make the move and said via Essentially Sports:
"Cristiano Ronaldo made the rise of the Saudi League real. After Ronaldo came to the Saudi League, it was easy for everyone to come. believe Ronaldo started all of this and everybody called him 'crazy', and this and that. Today you see the league grow more and more."
Mitrovic has socred 22 goals in as many Saudi Pro League games this season to help Al Hilal sit on top of the league table. He joined the club from Fulham last summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo credited for rise of Saudi Pro League by Michael Emenalo
Saudi Pro League director of football Michael Emenalo has also admitted that the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo sparked the interest in the league. He claimed, though, that the economic incentives were not the only lure, and added that it was the inspiration to try something different.
He said:
"There is an economic incentive, the thing that inspires most of the players is to do something really special and something unique. You have already heard from Cristiano Ronaldo: 'I set this space.' It's a form of a wave to himself to say: 'I anticipated this to be great and I did something special.' And others are inspired by that."
When quizzed if several stars only joined because of Ronaldo moving to Al Nassr, Emenalo added:
"Absolutely. Given his pedigree, it didn't hurt that he had the balls to do this. All these guys know each other, especially at the top of the tree. And there were big conversations of: 'Wow, I can't believe you did this. Well, I did this and it's big and it's magnificent.' So, definitely Ronaldo takes some credit of having unlocked a lot of interest in some of his colleagues, yes."
Ronaldo has scored 50 goals in 56 matches for Al Nassr since moving to the Middle East in December 2022.
