Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi

An art school student gives final touches to a painting of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Mumbai on November 18, 2022. (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP)

Ronaldo vs Messi in a meaningless friendly: Does anybody actually care?

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the fiercest competitors in the history of football, contesting a meaningless friendly match. What’s the point?

Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi

An art school student gives final touches to a painting of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Mumbai on November 18, 2022. (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP)

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have enjoyed an incredible competitive rivalry down the years. That’s why it’s sad to see their meeting in a friendly match tomorrow billed as such a big deal.

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Ronaldo vs Messi rivalry is over

Two of the fiercest competitors the sport has ever seen both have bigger fish to fry. Messi will be gunning for glory both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, with PSG’s next league outing against Reims on January 29th. On Valentine’s Day, they face Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. That’s going to be a cracker.

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Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi’s PSG will play a friendly against a select side made up of players from Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr club and rivals Al Hilal. Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP)

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is settling into his new life in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps he’ll enjoy this occasion more than Messi, but it’s still just a distraction from the real work. Al-Nassr has a Saudi Pro League match on Sunday against Ettifaq, some three days after this friendly, and then they’ve got a Saudi Super Cup semifinal four days after that.

Ronaldo will captain a ‘Riyadh All-Star’ side against PSG in a glitzy friendly tomorrow night. What’s the point of any of this, outside of money, and why would anybody care about tuning in to this match or caring about the outcome?


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