Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, in the duel of legends that could be the last

After more than 15 years of maintaining an exceptional rivalry, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two leaders of world football in the 2000s, will face each other for perhaps the last time in a friendly between Paris Saint-Germain and Riyadh All Stars, this Thursday. (12:00, from Ecuador) in Saudi Arabia.

With Kylian Mbappé and Neymar also present in the Parisian team, four of the best players on the planet will meet in a prestigious match.

CR7 and the Flea They add up to twelve Ballon d’Ors and nine Champions Leagues, ensuring a spectacle on the pitch of King Fahd’s stadium.

Media from all over the world are expected to be present in this last duel between geniuses on the verge of the end of their careers. Messi, at 35, is close to renewing with Paris SG and Ronaldo, at 37, is the recent star signing of the Saudi team Al Nassr, after having signed a two-and-a-half-year contract worth 400 million euros.

CR7 will play their first game since arriving in Saudi Arabia in a team made up of their club, Al Nassr, and the other giant from Riyadh, Al Hilal. On January 22, he will debut with his new colors already in the championship, against Al Ettifaq.

Around the Portuguese will also be the Malian Moussa Marega, the Brazilians Talisca and Luiz Gustavo or the South Korean Jang Hyun-soo. Among the Saudi players, the striker for the Desert Hawks and scorer during the historic victory against Argentina (2-1) at the start of the World Cup stands out.

The “All Stars Riyadh” team will be coached by Marcelo Gallardo, who played for PSG for one year (2007-2008). The Argentine has just ended eight fruitful years on the River Plate bench, where he won two Copa Libertadores in particular.

On the PSG bench, Christophe Galtier may have decided to put this shift aside to work with his players, who seem to have lost their way since their return from the World Cup, with two defeats in the championship in the last fortnight.

“Right now, to be honest, we’re not that good, we don’t play that well,” the Parisian coach sighed after losing 1-0 in Rennes on Sunday.

The coach wants to reactivate the connection between his players, especially between the three stars Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, the “MNM”, who will face Ronaldo. Galtier has seen “too many turnovers, too long before he makes a pass that breaks the lines.”

But although he has ten days to prepare for the reception of Reims in Ligue 1, Galtier has to include a long trip to the Middle East in the collective work.

His squad will accumulate two night flights: the first leg, from Tuesday to Wednesday, and the return, on Thursday after the game. PSG will then travel to Lens in northern France to face sixth division Pays de Cassel on Monday in the French Cup round of 32.

This round trip may alter the preparation of Paris SG a bit, but it will enter “more than 10 million euros”, according to a club source, thanks to this gala match against the team dubbed the Riad Season Team.

The club’s Qatari owners, in full dispute with the Paris city council over attempts to buy the Parc des Princes, are also involved in promoting Saudi football, “a true football country” according to their French coach Hervé Renard.

After the Spanish and Italian Super Cups have been played, the presence of the two legends Messi and Ronaldo attract the attention of all the eyes of soccer fans to Saudi Arabia. (D)