Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in his first game in Saudi Arabia – but his Riyadh All Stars XI side ultimately succumbed to defeat against his greatest opponent as Lionel Messi’s PSG secured an entertaining 5-4 win.
Ronaldo has had to wait for his first appearance since joining Al Nassr due to a FA suspension during his Manchester United days.
But his first game in Saudi Arabia was not in Al Nassr colours as he joined a team of all-stars from Riyadh’s two big clubs, Al Nassr and Al Hilal, to take on Paris Saint-Germain.
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.
Messi and Ronaldo had previously met 36 times, with the PSG player winning 16 matches compared to just 11 victories for Ronaldo – and it was the Argentina World Cup winner who opened the scoring with a clever finish from an acute angle after just three minutes.
Ronaldo would not be kept quiet for long, however, with his first goal in Saudi Arabia restoring parity for Riyadh. It came from the penalty spot after the Portuguese was fouled inside the box by Keylor Navas.
Juan Bernat was shown a straight red card at 1-1 in the opening half to give the hosts a numerical advantage, but Marquinhos would nudge PSG back in front after finishing from Kylian Mbappe’s cross.
Neymar had the chance to extend the Parisians’ lead before the interval but he produced a tame spot-kick that was easily saved.
Moments later, Ronaldo hit the post but he would not be denied from his second effort on the stroke of half-time.
Sergio Ramos prodded home another Mbappe cross to make it 3-2 and the goals continued to flow as an Mbappe penalty would cancel out another equaliser from the home side.
Despite a late rally, a powerful finish from former Newcastle target Hugo Ekitike would prove the decisive fifth goal for PSG.
0′ Teams come out
0′ The match is about to start!
3′ GOAL! Al All-Star 0-1 PSG (Messi)
5′ CLOSE! Ronaldo’s shot stopped by goalkeeper
16′ CLOSE! Neymar’s shot stopped by goalkeeper
26′ Messi’s shot wide out
30′ Talent show from Messi
34′ Penalty Goal! Al All-Star 1-1 PSG (Ronaldo)
39′ Red Card! Bernat sent off
43′ GOAL! Al All-Star 1-2 PSG (Marquinhos)
47′ What a great save from Navas!
48′ Penalty Missed! (Neymar)
51′ GOAL! Al All-Star 2-2 PSG (Ronaldo)
54′ GOAL! Al All-Star 2-3 PSG (Ramos)
56′ GOAL! Al All-Star 3-3 PSG (Jang Hyun-Soo)
60′ Penalty Goal! Al All-Star 3-4 PSG (Mbappe)
67′ Ronaldo and Messi subbed off
78′ GOAL! Al All-Star 3-5 PSG (Hugo Ekitiké)
Line-ups
Al All-Star XI: Ronaldo, Gustavo, Pity Martínez, Jang Hyun-Soo, Salem Al Dawsari, Moussa Marega, Mohammed Al Owais, Sultan Al-Ghannam, Ali Albulayhi, Abdullah Alkhaibari, Saud Abdulhamid
Subs: Ighalo, Gustavo Cuéllar, A.Carrillo, Abdullah Otayf, Talisca, Abdullah Madu, Mohammed Kanoo, Matheus Pereira, Amin Al-Bukhari, Ghislain Konan, Sami Al-Najei, Ali Al-Oujami, Abdulelah Al-Amri, Khalifah Al-Dawsari, Musab Al-Juwayr
PSG XI: Messi, Ramos, Navas, Neymar, Marquinhos, Bernat, R.Sanches, Fabian Ruiz, Mbappe, Soler, Hakimi
Subs: Alexandre Letellier, Danilo Pereira, Rico, Kimpembe, Donnarumma, Vitinha, Timothée Pembélé, Nuno Mendes