PSG from the capital of Saudi Arabia won a friendly match against Riyadh by a minority (5:4), while Lionel Messi opened the scoring and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace.
Since the beginning of the year, the center of football life has moved to Riyadh, write our colleagues from the Playmaker. He hosted the Spanish and Italian Super Cups. Such a warm-up prior to a new meeting between Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi caused unprecedented expectations in the capital of Saudi Arabia. The friendly duel of the teams of the two main giants of the favorite game of the last 15 years has become the icing on the cake. Nearly 70,000 spectators filled the stands of the King Fahd Stadium.
Messi and Ronaldo have met 36 times so far. Lionel with the shirts of Barcelona and the Argentine team, Krish with those of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and the Portuguese team. Their paths crossed in the Spanish League, the Champions League, the Spanish Cup and the Super Cup. Their teams also played two friendly matches.
The last meeting so far took place on December 8, 2020, when Juve Ronaldo defeated Messi’s Barcelona in the Champions League group stage match with a score of 3:0. Cristiano scored a brace from the penalty spot in that match. PSG and even more Al-Nasr never appeared in the statistics of personal encounters.
In total, Messi had 16 victories, Ronaldo – 11. At the same time, the Argentine scored 22 goals, and the Portuguese – 21. Leo recorded his 23rd goal in this duel of wonderful boys already in the 3rd minute of the match. Neymar gave an incredible pass to the exit just to the left of the center of the penalty area, and goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais recklessly ran out of the gate, obviously forgetting who was in front of him. Lionel mockingly easily punished him for such a decision, calmly sending the ball into an empty frame.
The main goalkeeper of “Al-Nasr” David Ospina was unable to take part in the match. The Colombian has an elbow injury and is undergoing surgery. To replace him, the Costa Rican Keylor Navas signed up to take his place at the gates of the Parisians. In the French club he lost the position of starting goalkeeper, but in the Riyadh he appeared from the first minutes.
Navas, by the way, played with Ronaldo at Real Madrid, as did two other representatives of PSG – Sergio Ramos and Ashraf Hakimi. They were also at the start of the guests, as was the top scorer of the 2022 World Cup in Russia, Kylian Mbappé. The hosts had five Saudis in the first team, four of them playing in Qatar against the Argentine team, when Messi and company suffered a sensational group defeat (1-2). These are goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais, defenders Ali Al-Bulaikhi and Mohammed Al-Buraik, as well as midfielder Salem Al-Dawsari.
Perhaps, remembering that terrible evening in Qatar for the future world champions, Messi appeared in Riyadh clearly not in a friendly spirit. As, by the way, and his companions. There were no draws in the first half. In the 25th minute, PSG wasted at least three kill chances to increase their lead. Neymar’s shot dragged Al-Owais, in another episode the Brazilian did not reach the ball to close a cross from Hakimi, and Mbappé turned his start one on one, but the linesman raised the flag. Out of the game.
The Saudis responded more modestly. Luis Gustavo did a great job behind the free kick as Navas saved the ball with some trouble. But the hosts did not create anything more intelligible during the half hour of the match. Perhaps his future teammate came to the rescue. Keylor hit Ronaldo’s head with his hand as he went airborne for the ball. Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim immediately signaled the 11-meter mark.
Before his performance, Krish having recovered somewhat from a mild concussion, it was clear that a decent black eye was swelling under Ronaldo’s left eye. But the Portuguese did not miss from the point, opening the scoring with his goals in Riyadh in the first game. Let it be friendly, but against what opponent!
Almost immediately, PSG missed another shot. The locals competed successfully in the midfield in the national team and organized a counterattack, a break that Juan Bernat, at the cost of a free kick, received a direct red card. Martínez ran towards Navas’s goal, but the PSG defender rebuked the opponent and hit him roughly on the hip. The referee had to speak with the players of the French team, who were dissatisfied with the decision. And, angry with the circumstances that had accumulated, they stepped forward in a minute.
Mbappé from the corner of the penalty area threw the ball to the goalkeeper’s line, Marquinhos jumped behind the backs of the defenders and corrected it to the net on touch. Kilian was supposed to score next, but after a fancy pass, Messi couldn’t beat the keeper, who came out the gate and kicked the ball.
PSG could have gone into the break with a comfortable score if Neymar hadn’t missed from 11 metres. The Brazilian earned a penalty, falling a bit picturesque in the fight against Al-Bulaihi. But the VAR showed that there was a violation, only that the striker did not get past Al-Owais. He tried to cheat and shot really bad.
It was the third minute added to the first half, and in the sixth Ronaldo scored a brace. After a lateral shot into the penalty area, Cristiano headed the ball to the far post, but was the first to rebound. Ramos suspiciously waved the ball around in a rather simple situation, and his former teammate instantly spiked the ball into the nearest corner to the indescribable delight of the audience. At that point, it seems they have settled on the idea that the soccer god has descended on them.
If it was a performance, then it’s time for its director to present an Oscar. From the side, the action looked great and intriguing. After the break, the rivals made several substitutions, but the main stars remained in the ranks. Obviously, that was the wish of the organizers, who paid PSG 10 million euros for the arrival.
The second part started as well as the first ended. The Riyadh team was able to score after a corner kick, when there was a slight mistake in the area of the opposing goal. After a shot from Talisca, the ball flew close to nine, and the Parisians responded by leaving Messi to meet with the goalkeeper, who almost finished serving, reflecting it with his hands outside the penalty area. Fortunately for the hosts, Leo climbed into a small offside position, but the third ball into the Saudi net was soon visited.
Mbappé cheated in the rival area and took a pass on a silver platter to Ramos. The Spaniard immediately sent the ball into the net, for the third time overtaking the guests. The fourth happened when Mbappé converted a penalty for a handball, and before that the locals bounced off a corner.
With the score 3:4 at the end of the hour, Ronaldo came on as a substitute. The applause was mixed with a roar of incomprehension, but everything was quickly cleared up. Ramos, Neymar, Mbappé, Navas and Messi followed. Apparently, these were the agreements that the color of world football would play exactly 60 minutes. Leo, when leaving, spoke affectionately with the coach of the Riyadh team, his compatriot Marcelo Gallardo, former coach of the Argentine River Plate.
People moved slowly from the stands. The show had to be performed by young people and substitutes. The deal, if anyone expected it, didn’t work out. Although the Saudis were close to the fourth goal even before the Parisians scored the fifth. Hugo Ekitike ran towards the gate a little to the right of center and scored the winner. Taliska, a few seconds from the final whistle, did nothing but reduce the distance to a minimum.
The meeting was a success, like the Ronaldo-Messi duel. If this was their last fight against each other, then they have an all-time tie. 23 goals each.
Friendly match
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Team Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) – Paris Saint-Germain (Paris, France) – 4:5 (2:2)
Goals: Messi (Neymar), 3 – 0:1. Ronaldo, 34, from the penalty spot – 1:1. Marquinhos (Mbappé), 43 – 1:2. Ronaldo, 45+6 – 2:2. Bouquets (Mbappé), 53 – 2:3. Jang Hyun-soo (Gonzalo Martinez), 56 – 3:3. Mbappé, 60, from the penalty spot – 3:4. Ekitike (Garbi), 78 – 3:5. Taliska, 90+4 – 4:5.
Missed penalty: Neymar, 45+3 (goalkeeper).
PSG: Navas (Donnarumma 62), Hakimi (Pembele 62), Marquinhos (Danilou 46), Ramos (Bitxiabu 62), Bernat, Ruiz (Mendes 62), Soler (Garbi 62), Sanches (Vitinha 46), Neymar (Zaire- Emery 62), Messi (Kari 62), Mbappé (Ekitike 62).
Riyadh national team: Al Owais, Zhang Heng Su, Al Bulaikhi, Al Ghanam (Al Awjami 46), Abdelhamid, Gustavo, Al Khaibari (Kanno 61), Martinez (Carrillo 61), Marega (Talisca, 46), Ronaldo (Matheus Pereira ), 61).
Sent off: Bernat (39).
