Ronaldo slated Xavi for Middle East move in 2016

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 1 Jan 2023 18:05 GMT
• 3 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo may be about to turn out for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, but he wasn't so complimentary of the region after Xavi had swapped Barcelona for Qatari outfit Al Sadd in 2015.

Ronaldo and Xavi were Clasico rivals at the height of their careers, the former Real Madrid's all-time record goalscorer and the latter Barcelona's club captain who made 767 appearances for the club - second only to Ronaldo's career rival Lionel Messi.

Ahead of the 2016 Ballon d'Or vote, Xavi backed Messi to win the title ahead of Ronaldo.

READ: BREAKING: Cristiano Ronaldo joins Al-Nassr

"Ronaldo's a player of his time," he said. "But the problem is that there's another player who's been pretty much the best player in history. Ronaldo's extraordinary but compared to Messi, for me and for everyone who likes football, there can be no comparison."

Xavi, by this time, was winding down his career with Al Sadd, a year on from concluding his Barca career with 25 major honours with the club, and Ronaldo was particularly scathing in his response.

'He plays in Qatar, it doesn't matter what he says'

"Yesterday I saw that the most searched player on the internet, it's me," he said. "So when a player or manager wants to appear on the cover of a newspaper they talk about Cris.

READ: Cristiano Ronaldo Jr leaves Man Utd to join Real Madrid

"I don't give a toss about what Xavi says. Xavi plays in Qatar; it doesn't matter what he says. Or he used to play, I don't even know…"

Ronaldo would win that year's Ballon d'Or ahead of Messi with 745 votes to the Argentine's 316, and he retained the accolade the following year to draw level on five wins apiece before Messi added another two in 2019 and 2021.

Messi is expected to have very little competition for next year's award having fired Argentina to their first World Cup since the Diego Maradona-inspired triumph in 1986 with seven goals and three assists.

Ronaldo won't be in the running, but can console himself with a contract with Al Nassr worth a reported €200 million a year.