Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace in potentially his final game against Lionel Messi, as an Saudi Arabia All-Star lost 5-4 to Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday evening.
Friendly
Result: Saudi Arabia All-Star 4-5 Paris Saint-Germain
Date: 19 January 2023
Venue: King Fahd International Stadium
Ronaldo captained Riyadh XI and finally made his debut in Saudi Arabia colours after he missed Al-Nassr's two league games due to a two-match suspension which carried over from his time in England with Manchester United.
The Parisians, meanwhile, had their famed front-three of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar from the first whistle.
PSG had a flying start as Lionel Messi gave them the lead in the first three minutes with a left-footed strike in the box down the middle from an angle after he was setup by Neymar.
As the game opened up, Riyadh XI also had their chances and they were eventually awarded a penalty just after the half-hour mark after Ronaldo collided with goalkeeper Keylor Navas in the box.
After a brief medical attention to both Ronaldo and Navas, the Portuguese forward stepped up and levelled matters for Riyadh XI with a low drilled effort into the bottom corner.
The ugly scenes in the game continued as PSG were reduced to ten men just before the interval after Juan Bernat was red-carded for a bad foul.
However, Marquinhos restored the lead for Christophe Galtier's charges moments later with a strike in the box after he was setup by Mbappe with a cross from a corner.
PSG should have been 3-1 up on the stroke of half-time after Neymar drew a foul in the box and stood up to take a penalty but his spot-kick was saved in the bottom corner by goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais.
There was still time for more drama in the first stanza, with Ronaldo spirited for All-Star XI and after he was denied by the post, he finally snatched the equaliser in first-half stoppages and grabbed his brace with a close-range shot from a set-piece situation.
PSG were fired up from the interval and Sergio Ramos gave them a 3-2 lead early from the break with a close-range strike after Mbappe did all the work tee him up.
Riyadh XI, having a numerical advantage made their case responded almost immediately as Jang Hyon-Soo found the equaliser with a close-range header from a cross by Gonzalez Martinez.
However, All-Star XI shot themselves in the foot by conceding a penalty just before the hour-mark after a handball in the box and Mbappe restored the lead again for the Parisians from the spot-kick.
Ronaldo was substituted just after that for fresh legs as he made way for Matheus Pereira and the French giants made wholesale changes from the bench moments later as Messi, Neymar and Mbappe were among those rested.
Fresh off the bench for PSG, Hugo Ekitike made it 5-3 with 12 minutes to go after firing a strike into the top corner from a quick counter-attack, before Talisca got a goal back for the All-Star XI in stoppage time but the Parisians had done enough to secure the Riyadh Season Cup.
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