Ahmed Zeero, the forward for Al Shorta, has taken to Instagram to share a selfie with Cristiano Ronaldo, accompanied by the caption: “With the second best player in history.”
The 20-year-old Iraq international posed next to Ronaldo on Wednesday night following Al Shorta’s 1-0 loss against Al Nassr in the Arab Club Champions Cup.
A late penalty, executed by the five-time Ballon d’Or recipient, secured a spot for the Saudi Pro League side in the upcoming final. They are set to face their arch-rivals Al Hilal at the King Fahd Stadium on Saturday.
Ronaldo, who has scored in each of his last four matches in the Arab Club Champions Cup, will be striving to extend this streak over the weekend.
In the meantime, Zeero is likely to find his social media flooded with notifications, having shared a snapshot with the former Real Madrid and Manchester United standout.
Shortly after Wednesday’s full-time whistle, he uploaded a selfie with Ronaldo alongside the caption: “With the second best player in history”.
Soon, a flurry of Lionel Messi GIF’s would flood the Instagram post from Zeero, who has made five appearances in this summer’s tournament, according to365scores.
Last month, Ronaldo publicly declared that the Saudi Pro League is “better” than Major League Soccer, and will soon surpass the Turkish and Dutch leagues.
A number of top names have moved to Saudi Arabia this summer, including Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Sergej Milinkovic Savic and Roberto Firmino.
“The Saudi league is better than the MLS,” Ronaldo told reports after Al Nassr’s 5-0 defeat against Celta Vigo.
“I’m 100 per cent sure I won’t return to any European club. They criticised me for coming to Saudi league, but what happened now? I opened the way to the Saudi league and now all the players are coming here.
“I won’t return to European football, the door is completely closed.”
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For the FIRST time in Cristiano Ronaldo’s career, he will play 10 matches in less than a month (17th July – 12th August).
38 year old beast. pic.twitter.com/Rej3PHGZJU
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) August 11, 2023
Ronaldo added: “I’m 38-years-old, also European football has lost lot of quality. The only league that for me has a lot of quality and is at a higher level than all the others is thePremier League.
“The Spanish league does not have that great quality. The Portuguese league is a good league, but it is not a top, top league. The German league I think has also lost a lot. I’m sure I won’t play in Europe again. I want to play in Saudi Arabia.
“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league.”