One of many biggest rivalries in soccer historical past is about to renew on the unlikely venue of Riyadh’s King Fahd Worldwide Stadium.
The stage is about for Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo on Thursday when Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain tackle a mixed XI of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr groups. and Al Hilal in an exhibition match.
Riyadh is the place Ronaldo determined to base himself for presumably the ultimate years of his profession after signing a deal price $200 million a 12 months to affix Al Nassr.
The sport in opposition to Messi and PSG supplies a reminder of the Portugal worldwide’s glory days earlier than Ronaldo targeted on difficult Al Nassr for the home title. and bid for qualification to the Asian Champions League.
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has by no means been higher than after they had been taking part in for Barcelona and Actual Madrid respectively, and their goalscoring exploits have seen the gamers dominate Spanish and European soccer.
Going through Messi in these circumstances would have been unthinkable only a 12 months in the past, when Ronaldo was nonetheless scoring recurrently for a struggling Manchester United aspect.
Messi and Ronaldo have skilled very completely different fortunes over the previous 12 months. Messi lastly gained the World Cup with Argentina in December. Ronaldo was deserted by membership and nation, had his contract with United terminated and finally joined Al Nassr in one of the stunning strikes in soccer historical past.
It will likely be Ronaldo’s first motion in Saudi Arabia after serving a two-match ban by the English Soccer Affiliation for punching a cell phone out of a fan’s hand after a Man United v Everton sport final April.
His debut for Saudi league leaders Al Nassr is scheduled in opposition to Ettifaq on Sunday.
Ronaldo could have no scarcity of motivation when he meets Messi and a star-studded PSG squad that would additionally embody Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
He has already been handed his trademark quantity 7 shirt and armband in what appears a becoming approach to begin his newest journey.
It will likely be an opportunity to make a press release in opposition to a number of the finest gamers on the planet, in contrast to these he’ll face within the Saudi league, which is a step down from his profession in elite European soccer.
The 37-year-old striker, who was launched to Al Nassr supporters earlier this month, faces questions over his capacity to rediscover his kind after a disappointing first half of the season for United and a disappointing World Cup .
Ronaldo managed simply three targets in 16 appearances for United earlier than his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, during which he criticized supervisor Erik ten Hag and the membership’s house owners, led to his contract being terminated.
With the chance to market himself on the World Cup, he was snubbed by Portugal as his nation suffered a shock quarter-final elimination by Morocco and arguably ended their final probability to win the one main trophy that has eluded them. Ronaldo grew to become the primary male participant to attain in 5 completely different World Cups.
Messi can be trying to win back-to-back French league titles with PSG and will but lead the Paris membership to their first Champions League success.
Though Ronaldo has stated he has rejected provides from all over the world to affix Al Nassr, it isn’t identified if any curiosity has come from Europe’s largest golf equipment.
The Saudi’s transfer is prone to take him out of the limelight for the primary time since he established himself throughout his first spell at United in 2003.
The Season Cup in Riyadh, which will get underneath approach on Thursday, will not less than be a possibility to showcase his expertise in a match that would entice large curiosity given his rivalry with Messi as the 2 finest gamers of their era. Between them they shared 12 Ballon d’Or awards – Messi seven, Ronaldo 5.
Ronaldo has the higher hand within the Champions League, having gained European membership soccer’s largest trophy 5 occasions, in comparison with Messi’s 4.
In whole, they gained 56 main trophies between them, making it so tough to separate them when attempting to find out who’s the best of their era.
Nonetheless, Messi’s inspirational performances in main Argentina to the World Cup trophy in Qatar in December strengthen his case for having the sting over his nice rival.
Nothing that occurs in Riyadh on Thursday will transfer the dial in any approach on that argument. Nonetheless, it may give Ronaldo an opportunity to remind doubters that he can nonetheless go toe-to-toe with Messi.
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Extra AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson