Romain Rouillard 4:42 p.m., January 2, 2023

According to RMC Sport, Paris Saint-Germain could soon play a friendly match against Saudi club Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo's new base.

The five-time Portuguese Ballon d'Or could thus find the Argentinian world champion Lionel Messi, his lifelong rival.

They met 36 times on the most prestigious European lawns.

Their sometimes Homeric duels have offered the football world grandiose spectacles.

And the story may not be over, even if the setting will not have the nobility of yesteryear.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest players of the 21st century, could face off again this winter, according to RMC Sport.

The Saudi club of Al-Nassr, in which the Portuguese has just settled down, should host Paris Saint-Germain in Riyadh for a friendly match in January. 

A trip already planned last winter

Last year, the capital club was due to travel to Qatar between January 16 and 20 to take part in a tour, under a contractual obligation to be fulfilled by PSG, owned by Qatar Sport Investment (QSI ).

This trip was supposed to be accompanied by a detour by Saudi Arabia but was finally canceled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

According to RMC Sport, the trip could therefore take place this year, on roughly the same dates.

The hypothesis of witnessing a new – and probably ultimate – confrontation between the two stars is therefore very real. 

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Of their 36 meetings, the two men have played half of them in the Spanish championship.

Trained at FC Barcelona, ​​Lionel Messi spent most of his career there before joining Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021. For his part, Cristiano Ronaldo had his most glorious years in the jersey of Real Madrid between 2009 and 2018. Previously, they had already crossed paths in the Champions League final in 2009 when the Portuguese was still wearing the colors of Manchester United. 

Messi advantage

Their last reunion dates back to December 8, 2020 and a match between FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin, where "CR7" played from 2018 to 2021. Ronaldo scored twice on penalties and Juve won 3-0 in a Camp Nou empty, health crisis obliges.

However, it is Messi who has most often emerged victorious from these duels (16 wins to 11).

Finally, in the number of goals scored, the Argentinian leads by a narrow margin with 22 goals scored against his rival, against 21 for Ronaldo.

Recently, the two players had posed together as part of an advertisement for the Louis Vuitton brand.

They were seen playing a game of chess on a suitcase from the famous luxury brand.