Messi Ronaldo, the last historical chapter in a duel? What you need to know about the friendly match in Saudi Arabia

Messi vs. Ronaldo, again. This time, however, it is a friendly match, as it is being played in Saudi Arabia and one of the two – Ronaldo, who will take the field for the first time since moving to Riyadh – is playing for a team representing two rival teams in the city. Let’s try to sort things out and understand them a little better Context around the challenge between the two heroes that marked an era And they lived the past fifteen years as champions.

All Stars Al Hilal / Al Nasr Psg

The match has a high symbolic and geopolitical value. Marker A new stage in relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar (Owned through Qatar Sports Investments of PSG) after a three-and-a-half-year ban against the country that recently hosted the World Cup only expired at the beginning of 2021. This match was supposed to be played a year ago (3rd week of January) However, restrictions due to the spread of Covid led to the cancellation of the match. The setting is the “Riyadh Season,” a sports and entertainment festival sponsored and organized by the Saudi government that has been held in the capital in winter every year since 2019.

Crazy amount for a ticket

Paris Saint-Germain is being challenged by two rival teams: In fact, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal play the Riyadh derbyIt is ranked second in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after El Clasico between Al Hilal and Al Ittihad. Parisians, as revealed by Equipe, will benefit 10 million euros token to participate in the match. Musharraf Al-Ghamdi, the Saudi real estate tycoon, pays a smaller, but disproportionate amount, to attend the match, participate in the awards ceremony and meet the two main champions in the locker room. As reported by ESPN, Al-Ghamdi won the auction with a bid of 2.6 million euros. The 65,000 seats available for the event at King Fahd Stadium sold out within hours.

Messi vs Ronaldo and a potential dream destroyer

Not just Ronaldo. In the All-Stars, Al-Hilal / Al-Nassr will also find space Salem Al-Dosari, No. 10 in the Saudi national team and Al-Hilal star, that is, who scored the winning goal against Argentina for Team Reynard in Albiceleste’s first global appearance. A defeat that could cost Messi and his comrades dearly, but instead It didn’t stop Skaloneta from winning the World Cup.