Despite declaring his intention to retire over the summer, Cristiano Ronaldo seems to have made a sly jab at his previous team, Juventus, in a conversation with Wojciech Szczesny, who recently joined Barcelona.

In a video that has gone viral on the internet, Ronaldo was heard telling Szczesny, “You needed to retire to get to a big club.”

The two came together in the mixed zone of the National Stadium in Warsaw on Saturday night when Portugal defeated Poland 3-1 on the road.

Ronaldo asked Szczesny if he was satisfied with his recent move to Barcelona as he paused to take pictures with his kids.

Then, Ronaldo joked that his former teammate would have to resign in order to join “a big club.”

In August, Szczesny declared his intention to retire from professional football, mutually ending his contract with Juventus. Even though he had played for the Bianconeri for more than eight years, Michele Di Gregorio’s summer signing from Monza had jeopardized his status as a starter.

Subsequently, he announced his retirement and signed a contract with Barcelona, good through the conclusion of the current campaign, to relieve club captain Marc-Andre ter Stegem of a long-term injury.

A veiled jab at Juventus from Ronaldo

“This is what Lionel Messi thought of the rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and me—I played with him at Barcelona.”

The ‘GOAT’ competition between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is not the reason Gerard Pique believes Messi was more concerned with winning championships at Barcelona.

After progressing through Barca’s development systems, the Argentinean spent 17 years at Camp Nou, where he won 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Reys, and one Supercopa de Espana. Due in significant part to his 672 goals and 303 assists in 778 appearances in all competitions, he also won four Champions League trophies.Messi’s remarkable performance during nearly two decades in Spain has allowed him to win seven of his eight Ballon d’Or honors, nine La Liga Best Player titles, and six European Golden Shoes. Despite leaving the team in 2021 to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer and moving to Inter Miami the following year, he still holds the record for most goals scored at Barcelona, easily surpassing Cesar Rodriguez’s 226 goals.

center-half and dependable team member Pique thinks Messi’s extensive record of accomplishments is evidence that he was more concerned with winning for his old team than displacing Ronaldo as the best player of all time. Pique asserted in an interview with talkSPORT that “He wasn’t that type of guy.