PSG beat Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh All-Stars XI 4-5. The Argentinian netted with a goal, while the Portuguese celebrated a brace which proved insufficient for his team.
It was one of the most anticipated games in recent times and did not leave disappointed . Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo found themselves in the clash between Paris Saint Germain and the Riyadh All-Stars XI, made up of a combination of players belonging to Al Hilal and Al Nassr, the new team of CR7 after signing for a amount of $200 million. and led in the bank by Marcelo Gallardo. In the end, it was the Argentinian who ended up celebrating after his team’s victory by 4-5.
This duel allowed us to evoke the Messi-Cristiano rivalry which lasted several years in Spain when the two footballers served respectively in Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Since the players left the tunnel, the signal televised Cristiano Ronaldo, who once on the pitch took advantage of his meeting with Sergio Ramos, a player with whom he shared at Real Madrid.
After the match started, the reaction of the public was clear. Well done every time the Argentinian or the Portuguese took control of the ball . The contrast was glaring with Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman received boos from the first time he had the ball at his feet.
Two minutes later, the first argument between the protagonists took place. Messi took the ball and Ronaldo went on goal, the latter being the one who ended up winning the duel Of course, the first to put his name on the scoreboard was the Transandean striker.
At 3′, after a nice decisive pass from Neymar, Messi went hand in hand with the goalkeeper and beat him with a cross shot carried away for the first hugs of Parisians .
Cristiano Ronaldo’s response came three minutes later. The Portuguese moved towards the goal after Luiz Gustavo qualified. The Portuguese’s left shot ended up in the hands of Keylor Navas.
After 10 minutes, Paris Saint-Germain handed the lead role over to the hosts. Luiz Gustavo took advantage of a long check from CR7 to finish, finding the replica of Navas.
At 18′ there was the option of a second goal for the French. Mbappé took a cross from the back line towards the far post, but Neymar couldn’t get there in time to drive the ball home.
Lionel Messi managed to create a new opportunity at 27′. The Qatari world champion created space at the edge of the area and shot into the right sector of the goalkeeper. Unfortunately for him, the ball was hit by a defender and it all ended with a corner kick.
The alarm went off at the 32nd minute. Cristiano Ronaldo went for a cross from a free kick and Navas ended up hitting the Portuguese head with his arm, which ended up with a cut in his mouth. Following the contact, the judge of the match did not hesitate to inflict a penalty. CR7 got in front of the ball and tied the game at 1-1 with an unassailable shot for the Costa Rican .
And as if that weren’t enough, in the 1940s PSG received another blow. Juan Bernat cut off Salem Al Dawsari’s onslaught with an offense and ended up receiving the red card .
But PSG was not for surprises and at 43 ‘ Marquinhos anticipated Mbappé’s cross to define and put the partial 21-2 . And in the 45+2′ another chance came for the visitors. After examining the VAR, the judge retained a penalty committed against Neymar. And it was the Brazilian himself who stood in front of the goal, but his shot ended up being easy to catch by goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais .
A mistake that would end up paying dearly. Well, in the 45 + 5 ‘Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated again . After sending a header to the post, Sergio Ramos was unable to clear the ball which remained again for the Portuguese who, with a powerful shot, made it 2-2 with which the two teams are rested.
Already in the second half, the French team continued to be the protagonist, creating games to unbalance the score. one of these attempts comes in the 53rd minute on a shot by Mbappé cleared by the goalkeeper. However, in the next piece, the frustration was removed. Once again with the ball at his feet, he faked several times before firing a low, drifting cross that found Sergio Ramos to push him into the back of goal and get back in the lead. .
Despite this, the joy did not last long enough. After a corner, Hyun-Soo Jang (56′) beat Ramos’ mark and beat Navas with a header . Later, Messi appeared at 59′ to finish in the box, of course the ball ended up touching the hand of a defender. The penalty ended up being charged by Kylian Mbapé to bring the score to 3-4 .
Already in the 61′ came the end of the participation of the stars of the day. Cristiano Ronaldo has been replaced by Brazilian Matheus Pereira from Al-Hilal. In the same break, Lionel Messi was replaced by Ayman Kari. There, on the way to the bench, he was greeted by Marcelo Gallardo with whom he shared a brief dialogue as they hugged.
The gap in favor of PSG extended to 78′. After a quick counterattack, Hugo Ekitike made it 3-5 for the Parisians . Then, at the last minute, Anderson Talisca (90 + 4 ‘) declared the final 4-5 which allowed Lionel Messi to have a new match with a result in his favor against Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now, both footballers will have to continue developing in their respective leagues, where the Argentine will try to continue his good time after winning the World Cup in Qatar 2022. On the other hand, the Portuguese will look to put his bad time behind him at Manchester United. , which he ended up leaving in the middle of the World Cup, to add success in Saudi Arabia.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
