Cristiano Ronaldo Says ‘Nice To Meet Some Old Friends’ After Saudi All-Stars Lose To Lionel Messi’s PSG
Riyadh: Cristiano Ronaldo was happy to meet his old pals during the Saudi All-Stars friendly tie with french giants Paris Saint-Germain in Riyadh on Thursday. PSG defeated Saudi All-Stars 5-4.
Ronaldo, who moved to Saudi Arbian club Al Nassr earlier this month scored a brace for Saudi All-Stars while Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos, Kylian Mbappe were on the scoresheet for PSG.
After the match, Ronaldo tweeted, “So happy to be back on the pitch, and on the score sheet!! And nice to see some old friends!.”
So happy to be back on the pitch, and on the score sheet!! And nice to see some old friends! pic.twitter.com/qZqKGHsrVD
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) January 19, 2023
Messi, also put an Instagram story of him embracing Ronaldo, just before the kickoff. Both Messi and Ronaldo dominated the European football for close to two decades and have been very good friends off the field.
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has been among the greatest ever. Between them they have 12 Ballon d’Or awards — Messi a record seven, Ronaldo five — and have won a combined 56 major trophies. Ronaldo won the Champions League five times, compared to Messi’s four.
Messi is the all-time “El Clasico” top scorer with 26 goals for Barca, eight more than Ronaldo for Madrid. Ronaldo won the European Championship in 2016 but Messi was brilliant in Argentina’s Copa America win in 2021 and its 2022 World Cup success. Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in men’s international soccer with 118 goals, while Messi’s seven at the World Cup took him to third overall with 98.