Their careers may be drawing to a conclusion, but matches featuring Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo still garner incredible global attention. Therefore, the prospect of them facing each another again is mouth-watering to some football fans.
The two incredible footballers lined up against one another during their days at Barcelona and Real Madrid and produced some unforgettable games and moments, but the pair now play on separate continents and are unlikely to square off in a competitive fixture ever again.
With the way modern football is, though, you can never rule out two teams from separate sides of the world facing off in a friendly, so perhaps Inter Miami taking on Al Nassr in the Riyadh Season Cup 2024 is something we should have all seen coming.
A major question mark hangs over this ‘last dance’, however, and that is Ronaldo‘s fitness.
Inter Miami‘s season came to an end on 21 October 2023 with a 1-0 defeat away at Charlotte. Since then, the Florida side have enjoyed a break, playing just one friendly against New York City before the end of the calendar year.
They have since faced the El Salvador national team in a game that ended 0-0 and lost 1-0 away at FC Dallas. It hasn’t been the greatest start to pre-season, but Inter Miami now head to Asia where they are scheduled to take on Al Hilal and Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, a Hong Kong XI and Vissel Kobe in Japan.
The match against Al Nassr is set to be played on 1 February at 18:00 GMT, three days after they face Al Hilal.
The Saudi Pro League is still ongoing and Al Nassr sit in second place, seven points behind Al Hilal. Teams don’t play again until mid-February, but players haven’t enjoyed much of a break despite the pause in league action.
Al Nassr were due in China to face Shanghai Shenhua and then Zhejiang and thousands of fans packed out the airport where the team was landing to catch a glimpse of Ronaldo. However, it was soon revealed the former Manchester United forward has an injury and would not be able to play.
Al Nassr cancelled their trip and returned to Riyadh, with the tour hoped to be rescheduled for a later date.
A statement from Ronaldo read: “As you know, in football some things you cannot control. I have played 22 years in football and I am a player that doesn’t have too many injuries. So I’m really sad because Al Nassr and myself have come to China to enjoy the tour.
“I have been coming to China since 2003/2004, so I feel at home here – my second home. I felt that I am always special here. I feel sad. I know you are sad too, especially the people who love Cristiano, but we have to see this in a good way. We have not cancelled the game, we want to push for the game and be back here. We will be back. Unfortunately, I have some problem, but this is part of football and my life. I’m here, I’m with the fans, I’m with the Chinese people and we are going to continue here. We can see outside the people that are with us.
“We are sad because we knew this could happen. We will be back to make the Chinese people happy, this is my goal. I want to play for you. Don’t be sad because I am sad and I hope you understand the circumstances of a football player.”
Ronaldo’s muscle injury could take a couple of weeks to heal, putting his participation in the game against Messi and Inter Miami in doubt. He may be a pretty incredible physical specimen, but he is still a 38-year-old forward who has to look after his body.
Al Nassr may well attempt to rush Ronaldo back to fitness for the match against Messi, but they face league leaders Al Hilal in their second Riyadh Season Cup outing a week later. They then return to the AFC Champions League before Saudi Pro League action resumes again, so any fitness risk they take with Ronaldo could well come back to haunt them.
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