Cristiano Ronaldo during the friendly game vs Messi. AP
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo kicked off his footballing career in Saudi Arabia for Saudi All-Star XI in a friendly exhibition match against Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint Germain on Thursday at the King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh. In his very first appearance in the gulf nation, Ronaldo found his place on the scoresheet twice during the nine-goal thriller.
While the French unit clinched a 5-4 victory, the game unquestionably was a special one for Ronaldo who stepped onto the ground for the first time after the Qatar World Cup. On Friday, he dropped some snapshots from the memorable fixture on his personal Twitter handle with the caption reading, “So happy to be back on the pitch, and on the score sheet. And, nice to see some old friends.”
The photographs represented different moods of Ronaldo. In a couple of frames, he can be spotted performing his iconic “Siuuu” celebration with his Saudi teammates. In another one, he posed with the player of the match award. The remaining picture was unquestionably the most special one as it featured two greatest football rivals in history- Ronaldo and Messi- having some words while exchanging a side hug with each other.
Coming to the highly-anticipated encounter, PSG fielded a comparatively powerful side, decorated with a number of world-class footballers. The starting XI included the trio of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr and Messi in the forward while the formidable defence had players like Sergio Ramos, Marquinhos and Achraf Hakimi. Though the Saudi Arabian side was not as strong as their opponent, the presence of Ronaldo- the All-Star XI captain- certainly worked as a huge confidence boost for them.
Messi once again did justice to his reputation by awarding an early 1-0 lead to PSG in the third minute of the game. It took almost half an hour for Ronaldo to equalise the score through a spot kick that was earned following the forward’s collision with PSG keeper Keylor Navas. Moments later, PSG went down to 10 men as Juan Bernart was shown the red card for his untimely sliding tackle of the last man.
Despite the setback, the French club continued invading the opponent’s defence in search of a goal. Ahead of the first-half whistle, they grabbed a 2-1 lead, with Marquinhos striking the net. Minutes later, PSG got another opportunity to increase the difference but Neymar failed to convert a penalty. Right in the dying moment of the additional time, Ronaldo brought All-Star XI back to the game with the first half ending 2-2.
The second half was nothing but console gameplay. While the 10-man PSG boosted their pace on the attacks, the Saudi brigade was not in the mood to give up. Every time the Ligue 1 giants took the lead, All-Star XI came roaring back. Around the 60th minute, when both Ronaldo and Messi were taken off the pitch by their respective managers, the scoreboard was standing at 4-3 in the favour of PSG. Coming off the bench, Paris striker Ekitike ultimately made a 2-goal difference for the first time in the nail-biting affair. Later, All-Star forward Talisca brought it down to 1 through a top-notch finish. But PSG ultimately won the thrilling affair.
Ronaldo will play his first match for his new club Al Nassr on 22 January against Al Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League.
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