‘Eternal Rivals’ Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nasr) shared a warm hug in the ‘Meho War’ after two years.
On the 20th (Korean time), Messi and Ronaldo started side by side in the ‘Riyadh Season Cup’ between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and the Al-Nassr-Al-Hilal team held at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The two players met before the game, shook hands and hugged. Fans gave meaning to this scene, calling it “Photo of the Year”.
This day’s match was the 37th ‘Meho Daejeon’ after 2 years and 3 months since October 2020. The two players clashed at Barcelona (Messi)-Real Madrid (Ronaldo) and Barcelona-Juventus (Ronaldo), and this time they faced each other wearing the uniforms of Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Arabia.
Messi and Ronaldo exchanged goals. Messi made a ‘save’. In the 3rd minute of the first half, Neymar’s fantastic pass was handed over and the opening goal was scored. Ronaldo equalized through a penalty in the 34th minute. After Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain) scored in the 43rd minute of the first half, Ronaldo set the game back to square one with a fantastic header.
In the 39th minute of the first half, Paris Saint-Germain defender Juan Bernat was sent off, putting Paris Saint-Germain at a disadvantage for the remaining time. However, in the 8th minute of the second half, Sergio Ramos scored the lead again, and after Jang Hyun-soo’s equalizer, Kylian Mbappe scored the team’s fourth goal with a penalty. 스포츠토토
Ronaldo was substituted for Matheus Pereira in the 16th minute of the second half when the score was 3-4, and one minute later he retired to the Medo bench. Afterwards, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ekitike and Saudi Arabia’s Taliska exchanged goals each, and the match ended with Paris Saint-Germain winning 5-4. Paris Saint-Germain held a victory ceremony.
Ronaldo, who wore the Al Nasr uniform last month, was selected as the best player of the match for his impressive performance, including 6 shots, 4 successful duels, 2 goals, and 1 chance, despite losing in his Asian debut match.
After the match, Ronaldo posted a photo of himself hugging Messi on social media, saying, “It’s nice to be back on the pitch and score!! And nice to see some old friends.”
Messi posted a short video of him greeting Ronaldo on his personal Instagram Story.
Messi and Ronaldo will be playing on different continents for the first time since their first head-to-head. It means that the possibility of meeting in the future is slim. Maybe this is the last ‘Meho War’.