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Former Al-Nassr manager Rudi Garcia joked that he wanted to sign Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo, just a few days after the latter joined the Saudi club in 2023. Messi had just led Argentina to glory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while Ronaldo had his contract with Manchester United terminated mutually.
Ronaldo then joined Al-Nassr early in January 2023, putting pen to paper on a lucrative two-year contract that expires this summer. In the process, he became the highest-paid player in the country.
Speaking in a press conference after Ronaldo’s signing was confirmed, Garcia jokingly said (via GOAL):
"First I wanted to bring Messi from Doha. I tried to bring Messi directly from Doha."
Rudi Garcia’s comments didn’t really age well. Reports emerged a few months later that Ronaldo wasn’t happy with Garcia and pointed fingers at him for the poor run of form the club was going through.
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Garcia’s time at Al-Nassr as manager came to an end on April 13, 2023. Meanwhile, Ronaldo has continued to remain an important player for the club. To date, he has scored 91 goals and provided 19 assists in 103 appearances across competitions for them.
"No, in no way, not as a footballer" – When former Al-Nassr assistant manager said Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t at the level of Lionel Messi
In addition to Rudi Garcia, former Al Nassr assistant manager Emiliano Diaz also picked Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo. Diaz was an assistant manager at Al-Nassr from 2021 to 2022 and took the same role at Al-Hilal from 2022 to 2023.
A few months after Diaz had left the Saudi Pro League, he gave a scathing review of Ronaldo’s first six months at Al-Nassr and also spoke about his comparisons with his Argentine rival. On his comparisons with Messi, Diaz told Tyc Sports (via GOAL):
"No, in no way, not as a footballer. There is no comparison. We have faced him less than three months ago and I went to see Leo at the World Cup. We are talking about light years of comparison. There is no comparison but the numbers support him, he is an animal. But at the level of quality of Leo there is no comparison."
Emiliano Diaz was most recently the assistant manager of Brazilian side Corinthians.
