Ronaldo v Messi in Saudi Arabia: PSG defeat All-star team in 9-goal thriller Riyadh Season Cup match

The highly anticipated exhibition had everything. Goals for Messi and Ronaldo, VAR investigations, penalties, a red card, nine goals and plenty of excitement.

Ronaldo was even knocked to the floor after being punched in the face.

“The Saudi Pro League was delighted to provide players for the Riyadh Season Cup match. Players from our league relished the opportunity to pit their talents against some of the best players in the world, such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Achraf Hakimi, and, of course, Lionel Messi. Backed by an incredibly passionate crowd at the King Fahd International Stadium, the Saudi Pro League players truly put in a performance to be proud of that showcased the strength of Saudi Arabian football,” said Saudi Pro League chairman AdbulAziz Alafaleq.

“The sell-out attendance on Thursday night and Cristiano Ronaldo’s much-awaited league debut on Sunday is indicative of the huge passion Saudi fans have for football. We have no doubt the eyes of the football world will be firmly on the Saudi Pro League and Mrsool Park on Sunday night,” he added.

Ronaldo and Messi score in Saudi match

In the end, though, PSG, with stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar were too strong for the all-star XI of players made up from Al Nassr and Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League.

All the players are involved in league commitments in France and Saudi Arabia, but the star power was not limited to the pitch.

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan shook hands with players on pitch before kick-off and retired legends of the game such as Thierry Henry, Allesandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti were all in attendance.

After all the pageantry and hype, such exhibition games sometimes end with little on-pitch excitement.

That could not be further from the truth in a thrilling encounter in Riyadh.

Perhaps inevitably, Lionel Messi opened the scoring for the much-fancied PSG team after just two minutes, firing past Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais.

Just beyond the half hour mark Ronaldo was caught by a punch in the face from PSG keeper Keylor Navas.

After a VAR review Navas was given a yellow card and Ronaldo eventually, after a shake of his newly bruised head, slotted home the penalty to score his first goal in Saudi Arabia.

His ensuing “siu” celebration got the biggest cheer of the night.

There followed a red card when PSG’s Juan Nernat brought down the Riyadh All-Star’s Salem Al Dawsari near the half-way line. Marquinhos put PSG ahead with a close-range finish before Neymar missed a penalty. Ronaldo grabbed a second goal just before half-time to end a thrilling half.

The second half was just as relentless, with goals from Sergio Ramos for PSG and Hyeon Soo Jang for the Riyadh All-Stars.

The match was decided when Kylian Mbappe scored another penalty in the end-to-end game.

Substitute Hugo Ekitike added a fifth for PSG as the clock ran down and the dominance of the French side shone through.

Ronaldo’s new teammate at Al Nassr, Anderson Talisca, added what was probably the best goal of the game in the dying seconds to make it 5-4.

If this is what football in Saudi Arabia in the Ronaldo-era looks like, long may it continue.

The players everybody wanted to see – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – were both taken off on around the hour mark. Everybody, except perhaps those that paid a record-breaking $2.6m for the ticket, had had their money’s worth.

As the game wore on, cameras lingered on stars Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar as they sat on the substitute’s benches. Waves and kisses to the watching fans were celebrated as much as any of the game’s goals.

This was an exhibition match that truly lived up to the billing.

Messi won, Ronaldo scored more. The debate over who is the football GOAT (greatest of all time) will not be decided on the Riyadh Season Cup result or performance, but it was a thrilling game nevertheless.

Before the kick-off it was reported that a Saudi businessman paid a world-record $2.6m for a ticket to watch the game.

Real estate businessman Musharraf bin Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, General Manager of the Aqar One group of companies handed over the sum of SR10m cash to watch the match, with the fee going to Saudi Arabia’s Ehsan charity fund.