{"id":864,"date":"2023-01-20T07:24:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T08:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/?p=864"},"modified":"2025-06-20T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T10:53:07","slug":"ronaldo-left-bruised-in-saudi-match-against-messi-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/20\/ronaldo-left-bruised-in-saudi-match-against-messi-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo left bruised in Saudi match against Messi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two icons met for potentially the last time in an exhibition game in Riyadh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo took a blow to the face from former teammate Keylor Navas but recovered to score twice as the Portuguese striker appeared for a Saudi All-Star XI against Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Making his first appearance in Saudi Arabia since joining Al Nassr in a record-breaking deal earlier this month, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot and added a second goal with a finish in first-half injury time at the King Fahd Stadium.<\/p>\n

Messi had put PSG in front after just three minutes of the match, and the French visitors ended up winning an entertaining game 5-4 thanks to further goals from Marquinhos, Sergio Ramos, a Kylian Mbappe penalty, and a strike from Hugo Ekitike.<\/p>\n

PSG also saw Neymar miss a first-half penalty and had defender Juan Bernat sent off in the 39th minute.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo’s brace came after he recovered from a bruising encounter with PSG goalie Navas – his former teammate at Real Madrid. Navas came out to deal with a cross but ended up missing the ball and elbowing Ronaldo in the face, leaving the striker in a heap on the floor.<\/p>\n

The incident saw the Saudi All-Stars awarded a penalty, which Ronaldo tucked away to level the game at 1-1. The 37-year-old was left with red marks and bruising, which were inspected more closely by PSG forward Mbappe.<\/p>\n

\n
\n Mbappe took a closer look at the marks on Ronaldo’s face following the incident with Navas.<\/p>\n


\n \u00a9  Twitter <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After delighting Saudi fans with his goal-scoring double and some flashes of brilliance – including a cheeky nutmeg on midfield rival Carlos Soler – Ronaldo was substituted in the 61st minute and was later handed the Man-of-the-Match award, while PSG’s megastar trio of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe were withdrawn soon after the Portuguese forward. <\/p>\n

The match was a brief mid-season jaunt to the Middle East for the Qatari-owned PSG, who will return to the business of domestic football when they play Pays de Cassel in the French Cup on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n
\n Ronaldo and Messi may have shared the pitch for the last time.<\/p>\n


\n \u00a9  AP Photo \/ Hussein Malla <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ronaldo, meanwhile, is finally set to make his official bow for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League meeting against Al Ettifaq on Sunday. The Portuguese star, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal reportedly worth up to €200 million ($217 million) a season, has thus far been prevented from appearing for his new team after serving a two-match ban imposed by the English FA from his days at Manchester United, where he slapped a cell phone out of the hands of a young fan in a fit of frustration last season.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s game in Riyadh was billed as potentially the last time fans will get to see Ronaldo and World Cup winner Messi – who boast 12 Ballon d’Ors between them – on the same pitch.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two icons met for potentially the last time in an exhibition game in Riyadh Cristiano Ronaldo took a blow to the face from former teammate Keylor Navas but recovered to score twice as the Portuguese striker appeared for a Saudi All-Star XI against Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday. Making his first appearance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions\/878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}