Two of the greatest footballers of all time - Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - sent the football planet on fire as the duo put on an incredible display during a friendly game between Riyadh XI and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on January 19 (Thursday). The marquee match-up lived up to all the pre-game hype, and in some ways, exceeded expectations and rolled out a fairytale story.
Before the game, Ronaldo embraced and greeted longtime rival Lionel Messi and his teammates, Neymar and Mbappe. When the two teams lined up in the tunnel, the Portuguese phenomenon provided a heartwarming moment for millions of football lovers around the world. In a seven-second video shared by PSG, four players with combined Instagram followers of over 1.25 billion shared a beautiful moment before kick-off in Riyadh.
Watch the video here:
Meanwhile, PSG registered a thrilling 5-4 win in the friendly game but Ronaldo won the individual batter with Messi. The Argentine superstar opened the scoring with a third-minute goal for PSG and Ronaldo answered, in a way only he knows how to. The former Real Madrid man won and scored a penalty before his header ricocheted off the post only for him to roll the ball into the back of the net from his left foot. Â
The rivalry for ages
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has been among the greatest ever.
Between them they have 12 Ballon d'Or awards - Messi a record seven, Ronaldo five - and have won a combined 56 major trophies. Ronaldo won the Champions League five times, compared to Messi's four. Messi is the all-time “El Clasico” top scorer with 26 goals for Barca, eight more than Ronaldo for Madrid.
Ronaldo won the European Championship in 2016 but Messi was brilliant in Argentina's Copa America win in 2021 and its 2022 World Cup success.
Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in men's international soccer with 118 goals, while Messi's seven at the World Cup took him to third overall with 98.Â
