The Real Madrid goalkeeper, 30, made the boast after his squad eliminated Liverpool from the Champions League following a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday. (15.03.23)

He told the Independent about acknowledging the power of the Premier League: “It’s hard to say whether it’s the best league or not but definitely with the new investment in Chelsea, City and Newcastle, there is a lot of attraction to go to the Premier League.

“It’s a really exciting league, that’s for sure, a big competitive league and the level is really high.”

But he added about his confidence in Spanish sides: “I think we demonstrate that we have a big team and that you cannot under-estimate Spanish teams. We showed it again.

“It’s obviously nice to beat English teams because I was there for a few years, but when you’re in the Champions League you want to win against everybody – maybe next it’s Portuguese and Italian clubs.”

Citing Manchester City’s decision to sign 22-year-old Erling Haaland as an example of the power of the Premier League, he added: “(Haaland is) a great player. He was maybe what City were missing in previous years. I think that’s (an example of) where the Premier League maybe has the edge on other leagues.

“It’s the strength of the Premier League; what they’ve done in previous years to make everyone strong and give everyone the (TV) money and if they get relegated they have parachute money. All these things make a difference to the strength of the league.”

Returning to his belief the Premier League is still not all-powerful, he went on: “Hopefully we can balance it out. I really feel this is somewhere that LaLiga can learn from and I think they are doing it step by step.

“You can see a lot of LaLiga are building new stadiums or making their stadiums nicer but (it) always helps when you see that every Premier League ground is full. We need the same here and then the product can be better.”