World Cup Soccer 2022 Qatar

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Messi and Ronaldo Stage a Zany Finale in Riyadh
Ronaldo scored twice and Messi scored once in a Riyadh exhibition as the two men took the pitch together for what is likely the last time of their careers.

Lionel Messi, left, and Cristiano Ronaldo took the pitch together for what appears to be the last time on Thursday.
PHOTO: STR/SHUTTERSTOCK
By Joshua RobinsonFollow
Jan. 19, 2023 2:41 pm ET

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo played out for over a decade in the cathedrals of European soccer. They clashed at the Bernabeu in Madrid, Camp Nou in Barcelona, the Olimpico in Rome, and Old Trafford in Manchester. The stakes were Champions League trophies and Spanish league titles.

But on Thursday night, the final installment in a series that dominated the world’s most popular sport unfolded more than 2,000 miles from any of those storied places. When Messi and Ronaldo took the pitch together for what appears to be the last time, it was inside King Fahd Stadium, a tired relic on the edge of Riyadh. There was nothing on the line for either of them.

And yet, in this exhibition between Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain and Ronaldo’s specially assembled team of Saudi league all-stars, everyone was out to make a point.

No one was more emphatic about it than Ronaldo, who has spent the past two months being told he was finished in top-level soccer. While that is probably true—he has said his days in Europe are over—Ronaldo still put away two goals to Messi’s one as the overmatched Saudi side, officially known as the Riyadh Season team, lost 5-4 to PSG.

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“This won’t be a practice match,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier had said before kickoff. “There are so many personalities and competitors on the field that we’ll have a high-level game. This won’t be like a charity game.”

Galtier was right. The standard was much higher, more entertaining, and occasionally nastier than your average in-season friendly—despite the improbable setting and the postgame fireworks and laser show. Even if it had been a kick-and-giggle send-off for the Messi-Ronaldo era, it could hardly have been scripted any better.


Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi scored the opening goal of the match.
PHOTO: FRANCK FIFE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Messi opened the scoring in the third minute at the end of a balletic move from his teammates Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. Then Ronaldo, making his Saudi debut, tied the game in the 34th from the penalty spot. Even once PSG took the lead back through Marquinhos, Ronaldo tied it again just before halftime—he hit the post with a header and put away his own rebound.

Before Thursday night, Messi and Ronaldo had lined up across from each other in 36 matches and both scored in eight of them, according to Opta Sports. Though Riyadh Season vs. PSG won’t count as a competitive game, it marked an unofficial ninth appearance for them on the same scoresheet.

This one just happened to also include the player who might be their successor, France’s Mbappé. He scored a penalty kick to give PSG a 4-3 lead and after that, the part of the match that 68,000 fans had paid to see was over. Both teams made wholesale changes in the 61st minute, pulling Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé out of the game. The night’s only public interaction between the aging giants remained a polite handshake and some Spanish chitchat before kickoff.

How the two men with 12 Ballon d’Or awards between them even wound up here on a Thursday night in January, in the middle of their respective seasons, goes a long way to explaining the forces that shape global soccer today. PSG showed up because of a lucrative contract for an exhibition game it originally agreed to play a year ago—and remained in the country for less than 24 hours following a speedy visit to Qatar. Conveniently, Messi also happens to be a Saudi tourism ambassador.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, became the biggest star Saudi soccer has ever known when he joined the Al Nassr club earlier this month for a reported salary of $200 million a year as the Kingdom attempts to burnish its image in the world. So when Al Nassr joined forces with its bitter rival Al Hilal to field a single select team against PSG, Ronaldo was always going to inherit the captain’s armband.

Life after their final clash will now look very different for Messi and Ronaldo. Messi, 35, will continue chasing another Champions League title and has entered negotiations to extend his contract at PSG.


Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in the match.
PHOTO: HUSSEIN MALLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ronaldo, two years older, feels much closer to the end. No longer in a major European league, his best prospects for one last major trophy lie with the Portuguese national team—if they’ll have him. Ronaldo was demoted to the bench by the end of Portugal’s World Cup campaign, which ended with a stunning loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals, and the team’s new manager hasn’t made him any promises about playing at the 2024 European Championship.

“He’s been in this team for 19 years,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said after taking the job this winter. “He deserves to be spoken to and to be respected.”

But as it turned out, only Saudi Arabia could guarantee Ronaldo the same regard he holds for himself.

Write to Joshua Robinson at [e-mail]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/lionel-messi-cristiano-ronaldo-saudi-arabia-riyadh-friendly-psg-11674157253