Cristiano Ronaldo says La Liga is better than the Premier League – is he right?
Tricky winger talks up his new league ahead of official unveiling
After revealing Kaka to 50,000 Real Madrid fans last week, the club will role the red carpet out for Cristiano Ronaldo tonight. Around 80,000 Madridistas are expected to pack out the Bernabeu at 9pm CET, in order to get a glimpse of their new hero and his brand new squad number.
Ahead of his high profile unveiling, the Portuguse star has taken a swipe at the league that helped him become the best player in the world. Apparently, La Liga will be better than the Premiership thanks to his own awesome talent:
“The Premier League is a very good competition, but I think that the Spanish league is going to have a little more quality because of the players that are arriving.
“Both leagues are going to be very good, but I think that with [the Real president] Florentino Pérez’s signings the Spanish league is superior to the English. It’s going to be a magnificent competition in Spain this year. All the players have a lot of quality and the referees protect the players more.”
The Spoiler concedes that Barcelona are the best team in the world, and Real Madrid will certainly put up a bigger fight in Europe this year, but we’re simply not convinced La Liga is as strong as the Premier League. Perhaps in five years (when the government’s new tax rules drive all the best players overseas and the overspending Prem starts to eat itself) the Spanish top flight will once rule Europe, but not yet.
Do you agree with us? Make your voice heard below…
17 responses so far
John // July 6, 2009 at 2:28 pm
It is better and has been all this decade. 4 teams in the champions league doing well does not represent the league which is not just 4 teams. in terms of depth, technique, success, la liga comes up trumps this decade. the big 4 in the prem are great, no doubt, and successful, but the rest of the teams? they don’t stand a chance against the mid table teams of la liga or serie a. the EPL has the best top teams in the world(none as good as barca but you get my point) but the rest of the league is pretty much rubbish. the bottom teams in the epl would get owned by the bottom teams of la liga or even serie a. another fact is the top 4 in the prem are the same every year, whereas la liga apart from barca and madrid, anyone can make it to europe.
Ram // July 6, 2009 at 2:37 pm
it’s an english site so no doubt everyone here will say the epl is the best. fact is, people started saying the epl is the best at the semis of the champions league of 06/07 and Alex Ferguson was the first to say it. Right after a spanish team took the champions league and the uefa cup the season before. But really apart from the big 4, the rest of the teams don’t have the quality of the the non big guns of la liga. So in terms of League, Yes, La Liga is better. In the 90′s it was the Serie A. Uefa Cup is a better indicator of the quality of the actual league rather than just it’s big guns and the spanish have been successful with it in the past few years. Remember boro’s thrashing at the hands of Sevilla? Then Sevilla took it the next year aswell?
KopIdol // July 6, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Don’t get ahead of yourself Ronaldo, remember this is the league that made you. As well as having 4 very strong top teams, people seem to forget its the premier league’s fast and robust style that draws the worldwide adoration everytime people watch it. I mean even most matches which don’t contain the top 4 seem to provide great entertainment and value for money. Looking at spain if the top 5 teams are not involved in a match then match does not provide that much entertainment. I know Barca played man utd off the park, and due to spain’s recent achivements there is so much hype about the La Liga. So you can talk of spanish league being better but when it comes down to it the Premier league provides the best entertainment period.
David // July 6, 2009 at 3:31 pm
It’s simple. Spain has the best team in the world, and the best league in the world. England has the best top four in the world. But that means nothing, other than you have the same four teams rotating in the same four spots year in and year out. I love watching the EPL, but I watch it for the outcomes below the top 4 (with the miracle possibility that a team creeps into 4th).
La Liga has at least 8 teams that consistently challenge for a top 4 spot. Remember the 2007-2008 season in La Liga? It was one of the most exciting finishes to a season, where three different teams could have taken the crown. The EPL is a top heavy league, and the most exciting part about last season was the relegation and Europa League battles.
Man Utd was always going to win the league, and Arsenal was always going to implode like it has in the last five seasons. It’s just not as exciting from top to bottom, only in it’s divided into thirds of the table format.
Scotian // July 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Indeed, in UEFA cup, EPL teams seems to be behind most other leagues.
anthony // July 6, 2009 at 4:25 pm
using the UEFA cup as a barometer is a little retarded considering Spanish teams put their all into these games while premier league teams are begging to drop out of it due to having to play in the toughest and most grueling league in the world.
la liga’s pace is sedate compared to the premier league. this leads to more intelligent passing play but i prefer the intensity of the EPL.
look at how excited spain are to get english premier league players such as Arjen robben, Ronaldo (nurtured at man utd for 6 years), Xabi Alonso, Nistelrooy, Beckham etc. And they almost all go there and succed because la liga is far easier to play in.
f1sh // July 6, 2009 at 7:43 pm
In Spain there are 6 teams vying for the CL places – Barca, Real M, Villarreal, Sevilla, Atletico M, Valencia
I England its more or less the same story each season…
Remember Valencia reached CL final twice in last decade, and Barca (2006, 2009) and Real (2000, 2002) won CL twice each in the past decade. And of course Sevilla’s 2 UEFA Cups (2006, 2007) and Valencia won UEFA also in 2004.
So if the above doesn’t indicate the strenght of the league, I don’t know what does.
afootballreport // July 6, 2009 at 8:41 pm
follow all the latest footballing news online at http://twitter.com/afootballreport
Vince // July 7, 2009 at 6:14 am
KopIdol – no one’s disputing that, EPl has the best fans, spectacle in a cultural sense(not football) and probably the best entertainment. But best usually defines quality, and La Liga has been the best this decade. We’re talking solely a football standpoint, quality etc. Even Alan Shearer said, La Liga is the best football wise because it’s smarter, more technical, but EPL is the best league because of fans etc. It’s not about which one you prefer. I’m pretty sure many people preffered EPL in the 80′s and 90′s but Serie A was the best back then.
Vince // July 7, 2009 at 6:18 am
La Liga is the best quality wise. Remember 06/07 season? 90 mins before the final match FOUR TEAMS COULD HAVE WON IT! And then it came to the final 5 minutes between Barca and Madrid. That’s competition. EPL is the same year after year, it’s about who gets relegated. Whereas in La Liga it’s about who gets into Europe and all teams have a chance of winning, since in the EPL only 4 teams have won it since it’s inception, and one of those teams only won it once. The players are better, everyone has skill, everyone can defend, everyone knows tactics. Bottom placed teams can beat the top placed teams. They all play football, rather than the mid to bottom table EPL teams who put 11 behind the ball and lob long balls to the front. And I’m from London!
John // July 7, 2009 at 6:27 am
anthony – are you kidding me? I remember 06 with Boro reaching the final of the Uefa Cup and representing England and all that crap the Red tops blurt out. If you think teams playing in the Uefa Cup see it as less important than the league which they know they will not win. You are sadly mistaken. And please La Liga is easier to play in? Remember how long it took Beckham, Henry, Owen and Arjen Robben to adjust? Henry was a god in the EPL but in La Liga the defenders are smarter, their positioning is better, so he couldn’t run rings around them. And he’s only done well now due to having the two best midfielders, the best right back and the best forward in the world all helping him.
Rep // July 7, 2009 at 6:28 am
LOL @ anthony. Took Beckham 4 years to succeed there, he found it harder, and in the fourth year it was only after playing with Zidane for so long he grew as a player, he became better because of La Liga and virtually carried the whole team. He found the positioning, marking, harder.
Com // July 7, 2009 at 6:36 am
KopIdol “Looking at spain if the top 5 teams are not involved in a match then match does not provide that much entertainment.” That’s because you English dudes don’t get the actual strategy skill side of football. That’s why you guys suck so bad as players and a national team. Someone with brains would see entertainment in it, the quality, skill, strategy, rather than mindless running and lobbing. Who play as if skills didn’t exist, as if Maradona and Real Ronaldo never changed football.
Dummie // July 8, 2009 at 6:33 am
Comparisons colleagues should have a basis. ‘BEST’ is too general to base our arguement. Are we talking about technic, is it about margins clubs make, is it about success in the champions league, the number of most expensive players plying their trade in a given league.
If it is about the champions league then currently its the spanish league that tops coz thats were the champions are.
if its about publicity,hype,tempo, passion one will give it to epl. A lot of unknown players have come to england unknown and have left not only with big name tags but very expensive to acquire. Christiano is a good example.
In every league there are perenial big fours in spain Real Barca & any other . In the epl Man U, Asernal Chelsea and any other. This cannot be used as a yardstick.
If buying the most expensive players is considered Real and Man City are currently doing the tops but measurement should be given to those that make the most out it.
Another point of argument will be what number of points are required to win the championship in a given league. That has a tell sign of how competitive how the league is. Lets get statistics to use to come up with an informed position of who is the best epl or la liga. Such as attendance of spectators on matches, value of sponsorship a league has. Otherwise without such facts we will argue until cows come home.
Bren // August 31, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Which has the more quality or which is more exciting is a subjective issue. But, there’s no arguement which league is more competative: look at odds on the betting websites. In Spain Atletico are 3rd favourites at 28-1. The EPL has 6 teams under that price this year.
Other things depends on your view of the great game in general and what actually makes the game interesting. If you want a debate over diving, wage caps and crowd trouble stick with the EPL, If you don’t care about cheating, wanna read about Ronaldo’s hair gel and pretend there’s no violence in the game go with La Liga.
wesley // December 13, 2009 at 12:40 pm
true that the latter haf of the table other than the big4 are not as gud as the big 4 but they can be definatley matched with any otehr top3 clubs in the othr leagues, for the fact that epls top 4 get to the semis of teh champs leg just shows the quality of play, if it wasnt for the ref last season prob chelsea and manu wud ave faced each other, 2 epl teams.. and also for the fact that ronaldo is findin it way more easier to score in the laliga just shows that epl teams are way way better than the pathetic laliga defense and the refs are disgustin as well.. the quality of refs in the laliga is no match to that of the epl.. the barclays premiere league is the best in the world!! mark my words n “wait n watch”
Maurice // January 21, 2010 at 11:42 am
I have to say this is one of the best sites i have been on in so long. Finally some people who talk sensibly about football and see each league exactly as they are. The EPL is so predictable every year with the same teams filling the top 4 spots and its pretty much Manchester United or Chelsea that will finish 1st or 2nd most years. I can’t watch EPL, the hype that surrounds it is intolerable. La Liga is far superior in terms of quality, movement, passing, & awareness which are the very foundations for pure football. You watch an EPL match and these qualities are extremely scarce and are really only shown by continental players. At a time when EPL teams have so much money to spend on players & wages they still have not been able to dominate winning the European Cup. When all these debts catch up with the EPL clubs they will return to their low level placings in Europe of the early – mid 90′s. There’s La Liga and then ther’s the rest in whatever order you like.
Leave a comment