Cristiano Ronaldo will captain Saudi side to face PSG on Thursday
According to a report from Reuters, six-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo will captain his side against Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday. The friendly will see the Parisians play Riyadh ST XI: a team composed of stars from Saudi sides Al-Hilal and Ronaldo’s new club Al-Nassr.
Though only a friendly, the match is pegged as one of the last occasions in which both Ronaldo and Messi will play against each other. Both in the twilight years of their careers, it is thought unlikely that the two will meet in future fixtures, at least at club level. The former Real Madrid and Barcelona stars have shared the pitch many times throughout their long careers, perhaps most notably in El Clásico fixtures, but also in the 2009 Champions League Final when Ronaldo was a Manchester United player.
The exhibition match will be Ronaldo’s unofficial debut in Saudi colours, whereas his official debut for Al-Nassr should take place against Al-Ettifaq on January 22nd. The 37-year-old Portuguese star, who also won the European Championships in 2016, missed Al-Nassr’s first two domestic games after receiving a suspension from the English FA for knocking a phone out of a fan’s hand in April last year.
