Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been as the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo is all smiles again after debuting for his new journey in Saudi Arabia while bagging two goals and the Man of The Match.
🏅Cristiano Ronaldo wins his 1st MOTM award in Saudi Arabia.#RiyadhSeasonCup|#CR7𓃵|#Messi𓃵 pic.twitter.com/7JxLy0oQ6p
— FIFA World Cup Stats (@alimo_philip) January 19, 2023
King Fahd International Stadium was outrageous and electric after the worldwide soccer heroes stepped onto the pitch and fans loved every little thing about it from Messi-Ronaldo admiration to Neymar-Mbappe appreciation.
PSG ended up winning the game and clinching the Riyadh Season Cup after a thrilling 5-4 scoreline which saw a huge performance from the ever-present rivals, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
PSG beat an Al-Nassr/Al-Hilal XI 5-4 in an eventful friendly in Riyadh full of goals, a red card (Bernat) & a missed penalty (Neymar).
Messi scored the first & Mbappe converted a penalty for the French champions.
Ronaldo got a brace in his first match since moving to Saudi.🐐 pic.twitter.com/NDWwPW0DYC
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) January 19, 2023
Messi opened the scoring for the visitors inside the 3 minutes and started the mind-blowing game in a fashion no one anticipated.
When the match hit the 33rd minute, Ronaldo’s former teammate and Champions League Winner Keylor Navas caught the Portuguese in the face and the referee pointed to the spot after a lengthy VAR check.
BORN TO SCORE GOALS 🎯🔥 @cristiano pic.twitter.com/moD0IORa0p
— 433 (@433) January 19, 2023
The punch from Navas may have left a mark on Ronaldo’s face, but the Five time Ballon D’or winner has left zero marks to his performance and made no mistake to convert the penalty into a scoreline.
A bizarre red card to Juan Bernat left PSG determined and purposeful as the visitors took the lead via Sergio Ramos goal, assisted by Kylian Mbappe after some trickery from the Frenchman.
RED CARD! 🟥
Juan Bernat is SENT OFF for PSG! pic.twitter.com/11FaFyuBdf
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 19, 2023
A wounded lion is always very dangerous and Ronaldo seemed not too happy after his side conceded the second goal as the veteran took matters into his own hands and equalised once more for Riyadh All Star XI.
After the restart to the second half, the game was little off colour in terms of the presence of the superstars as all of Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Mbappe were substituted within 65 minutes.
Ekitike and Mbappe scored for PSG and Neymar missed a penalty were the other highlights from the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi embracing before a match for what might be the last time.
Who's cutting onions? 🥹
(via benblack/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/cLHlKXFXar
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 19, 2023
When two forces met, it has to be a firecracker of a scene and last night was no exception. The crowds enjoyed the game whole heartedly as the Saudi Arabian soccer is well and truly on the edge of reaching to it’s glory and Cristiano Ronaldo deserves a whole lot of applause for this.
