By Victor Kanayo
Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi netted as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat Saudi Arabia’s AI All-star 5-4 in a friendly clash on Thursday night at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh.
For Ronaldo, he scored a brace on his first appearance after signing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
The former Manchester United player had to wait for his debut game since joining Al Nassr due to an FA suspension in England.
At the end of the encounter, Ronaldo was awarded the man of the match after he captained his side to a slim defeat.
Messi opened the scoring for PSG in the 3rd minute, but his rival Ronaldo responded with a penalty in the 45+6th minute.
It was contentiously awarded after the Portuguese collided with Parisian goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Christophe Galtier’s side pulled in front once again through Marquinhos in the 43rd minute.
However, Ronaldo was right in the thick of things and slotted home another equalizer after his header had hit the post.
He lasted 61 minutes, had seven shots, and created one chance.
Sergio Ramos, Kylian Mbappe, and Hugo Ekitike were also on the scoresheet for PSG, just as Jang Hyun-soo and Anderson Talisca replied for Riyadh Season Team.
Messi and Ronaldo shared the pitch for the first time since the latter’s Juventus side beat Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League group stages in October 2020.
They had previously met 36 times, with the PSG player winning 16 matches compared to just 11 victories for Ronaldo.
