Al Ettifaq defender Marcel Tisserand says Cristiano Ronaldo is sure to help the Saudi Prp League lift standards.

The former AS Monaco stopper faced Ronaldo on his winning debut for Al Nassr last week.

Tisserand told Foot Mercato: "Now, we see in football that anything is possible. It wasn't the budget that was going to stop Al Nassr from bringing him in. But more his ambitions. What he was ready to do, what he wanted for the rest of his career. Frankly, I believed it. I said to myself: 'Why not? He could finish his career here or continue his journey here'.

"The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo has given a boost to the championship. Everyone talked about it. We had the opportunity to face him for his first official match. It was a great opportunity and a great poster for us. It's great. I hope there will be many more coming here.

"From what I could see, he is still in good shape. He is still sharp. You can see that he takes good care of himself. Afterwards, it is certain that he no longer has his 20-year-old legs. We are not going to ask him to dribble five players as he could have done a few years ago, finishing on his own. We see that now he needs his teammates a little more. He plays a lot more with his head, pays more attention to his movements, to his sense of timing. He evolves with the times. I think he will adapt quite quickly to this championship.

"It confirms my choice to have come there. I didn't go anywhere. I see lots of good players who are asked to come here. There are still rumours, we will see if it is feasible. When we see that Cristiano Ronaldo came here, it opens up possibilities. It's very good for the championship and for us as players. We want to play against these players. It's only positive so I hope other big names will join us here."