Just when we thought we’d seen the last of Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi on the pitch, the Riyadh Season Cup in Saudi Arabia is set to give the world another chance to see them duel.
When Cristiano Ronaldo departed Europe for Saudi Pro League team Al Nassr, most football fans assumed the only way for the Portuguese legend to face Lionel Messi was on the international arena.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, met Messi in 2022, when the Argentine was playing for Paris Saint-Germain. The match ended with another Messi triumph.
Messi’s move from Europe to Inter Miami in Major League Soccer in the United States was intended to be the final nail in the coffin for the two greats meeting at the club level.
However, that is not the case because Saudi Arabian football authorities have finalized preparations to pit Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.
The two clubs are likely to clash in the Riyadh Season Cup in Saudi Arabia in February 2024, according to transfer news specialist Fabrizio Romano.
If this match goes off as planned, it will be the 37th time Messi and Ronaldo have met on the field.
Messi and Ronaldo had played 36 times against each other in domestic and international matches before leaving European football in 2023.
In those games, Messi, 36, won 16 times, while Ronaldo, 38, won 11 times, with the remainder ending in draws (9).
Ronaldo has scored 21 goals and provided one assist against Argentina, who has scored 22 goals and provided 11 assists against the Portuguese. As a result, Messi, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner, has a better head-to-head record than Ronaldo.
