This will be a game of superlatives – at least from a financial point of view!
World champion Lionel Messi (35) and Paris Saint-Germain meet a selection from the two Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal in the “Riyadh Season Cup” on Thursday. And thus also on Cristiano Ronaldo (37)!
The Portuguese makes his debut for Al-Nassr in the test match – against his constant rival Messi of all places.
The last duel between the two superstars took place in December 2020. At that time, Ronaldo was a guest with Juventus in the group stage of the Champions League at Messi’s FC Barcelona (3-0).
The event in the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh is not of great sporting importance, but it is financially significant. As the French “L’Equipe” reports, PSG collects more than ten million euros for the performance!
A sum that is certainly welcome. Because according to “Le Parisien”, PSG made the highest loss of all top clubs in Europe in the 2021/22 financial year – 389 million euros.
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Source: IMAGE
With performances abroad, the Parisians are also trying to market their stars like Kylian Mbappé (24), Neymar (30) and Messi even better.
Saudi Arabia also wants to market itself – with the transfer of mega stars or with top-class fixtures. Because the desert state plans to apply for the World Cup in 2030 together with Egypt and Greece.
Coach Marcelo Gallardo (46) looks after the Saudi selection against the Parisians. He has already trained Monaco, PSG or River Plate.
The team is led onto the field by Cristiano Ronaldo. Who signed with Al-Nassr in December and is expected to collect 200 million euros per season.
However, CR7 had missed the first games for his new employer. Because in Saudi Arabia the teams in the first division are only allowed to register eight foreign players in the squad, space had to be created for him first. In addition, Ronaldo had to sit out another game because he had not yet served his sentence for freaking out (he had slapped the phone out of the hand of a boy at a Man United game against Everton in April 2022).
