Cristiano Ronaldo finally breaks silence on future in Saudi Arabia

Cristiano Ronaldo has finally broken his silence on his dramatic Saudi strike.

The 41-year-old returned to action last week for Al-Nassr and scored a brace in their 4-0 victory over Al-Hazem on Saturday having previously made major waves with his high-profile strop.

Ronaldo, who earns £488,000-a-day, had been furious with what he perceived to be a lack of transfer backing for Al-Nassr from PIF compared to their rivals.

The situation was exacerbated further when Karim Benzema was granted a transfer to Al-Hilal and Ronaldo went on strike for three games.

His behaviour led to serious questions over his future in the league – despite his position as the biggest and most marketable name.

But when asked about the situation on Saturday, Ronaldo said: ‘I’m very happy. As I say so many times, I belong to Saudi Arabia.

‘It’s a country that welcomed me, my family and my friends very well. I’m happy here. I want to continue here.

‘And the most important thing, it’s we keep pushing. We are there at the top.

‘Our job is to win, make pressure [on our title rivals], and let’s see. We are on track.

‘We’re back, we are good, we are confident. Game by game. We are in good shape. Let’s see what’s going to happen.’

Ronaldo’s actions had irritated the Saudi Pro League, with the top flight releasing a statement warning ‘no individual determines decisions beyond their own club’.