For sports lessons, pass your turn. But if you were neither in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), nor in front of your television this Thursday evening, know that the show was there between PSG and the Riyadh Season Team, a team made up of the best players in the Saudi championship, including Cristiano Ronaldo. A match concluded with a 5-4 success for the capital club with goals from almost all the stars. The objective which was to promote the image of local football has been achieved.
The match: the entertainment was there!
Nine goals, two penalties, one player sent off… If it was a Champions League or World Cup match, it would have been called legendary. But, even without this context, the entertainment was there. Without any benchmarks, the players of the Riyadh Season Team were quickly surprised by a goal from Lionel Messi (3rd).
But, in five minutes, the Qatari referee tipped the scenario. Keylor Navas was first sanctioned with a penalty after an elbow in the face of Cristiano Ronaldo (34th), scorer on penalty. As for Juan Bernat, he was excluded after having stopped a counter-attack with a brutal foul (39th). Two new goals, signed Marquinhos (43rd) and Cristiano Ronaldo (45th + 6), provided the show before the break (2-2).
All this without counting a penalty missed by Neymar (45th + 3). And the action didn’t stop when they returned from the locker room. Sergio Ramos (52nd) made up for his defensive mistakes by scoring 3-2… before being surprised again on a corner by the Korean Hyun-soo Jang (56th). But Kylian Mbappé, on a converted penalty (60th), and Hugo Ekitike, in power (78th), sealed the Parisian victory, won ten against eleven.
Note that 22 players participated in the meeting, including Nuno Mendes, who had not been seen since the end of November due to a thigh injury. In additional time of the second period, the Brazilian Talisca reduced the gap (90th + 4).
The duel: Messi and Ronaldo scored
It was the duel long awaited by the organizers in order to promote this meeting. The Argentinian, world champion a month ago in Qatar, opened the scoring. The Portuguese, the locals’ new idol, scored twice despite a cheekbone damaged by the exit of Keylor Navas. The two superstars did not show great complicity during this 37th joint confrontation, the first in a friendly, concluded with Messi’s 17th victory over Cristiano. The Golden Balls (12 between them) played an hour of play.
The image: Mbappé captain
Scorer on penalty, the French striker took on the role of captain when Marquinhos left after the break. Very active, the 2018 world champion delivered an assist to the Brazilian defender in the first period and a second for Sergio Ramos in the second. This is not the first time that he has taken the captain’s armband (in November 2021, against Nantes). In the absence of Presnel Kimpembe or Marco Verratti, it was Mbappé who was chosen by Galtier for this role.