Al Nassr Coach's Statement After Cristiano Ronaldo's Presence: Initially Elect Lionel Messi And Almost Join MU

Al Nassr coach, Rudi Garcia, commented on Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo: Twitter/@AlNassrFC_EN)

JAKARTA - Al Nassr coach, Rudi Garcia, spoke up about Cristiano Ronaldo's presence in his team. He also issued a surprising statement at a press conference after his team won over Al Khaleej.

Garcia said he initially intended to bring in Lionel Messi before Ronaldo officially anchored at the Saudi Arabian League club. However, he said that jokingly.

"Initially I wanted to bring Messi from Doha," said Garcia.

Previously, the former AS Roma coach had spoken a lot about Ronaldo. He had praised the star and considered the former Juventus and Real Madrid player still at the top of his game.

"I can't say anything about Cristiano because otherwise, the headlines will immediately appear. What I saw, this has become a soap opera and is a very important promotion for Al Nassr," he said.

"I think any coach would love to coach a great star like Cristiano," Garcia continued.

The French coach also revealed that he almost coached Ronaldo in 2021. At that time, he was very close to replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United manager.

"In November 2021 I was very close to going to United. They chose Ralf Rangnick, but I met John Murtough and Darren Fletcher twice," said Rudi Garcia.

According to him, it will not be difficult to train a star like Ronaldo. He even thinks that great players are the easiest to manage because they are very intelligent. He had experienced this when training Francesco Totti in AS Roma.

In addition, Garcia considered having the same goal as Ronaldo, namely winning the title. "Currently, the goal with Al Nassr is simple: winning titles," he said.