By Sergio Silva
Dec 11, 2023, 8:58 PM EST
After numerous rumors emerged about the possibility of one last confrontation between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo this monday finally Inter Miami confirmed that there will be a “The Last Dance” between the two most dominant footballers in the last two decades and who starred in one of the most spectacular sporting rivalries in sports.
The Major League Soccer team continues to define what its preseason will be with the Argentine star, with whom they hope to achieve a successful 2024 season in soccer in the United States where he arrived in the middle of this year and marked a revolution within Las Garzas as well as in the championship in general.
With a publication on their social networks, Inter Miami confirmed the series of two friendly matches that they will be playing at the beginning of next year on Arab soil where, in addition to facing Al Nassr, they will also face the Brazilian star’s Al Hilal Neymarwho will miss the duel as he is recovering from a serious knee injury.
Adding a stop to our Preseason International Tour📍🌏
We will play two matches in Saudi Arabia in the Riyadh Season Cup as part of our first-ever international tour!
In a round-robin tournament format, we will take on Saudi powerhouses Al-Hilal SFC and Al Nassr FC on Monday,… pic.twitter.com/Xi9M0QApLi
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) December 11, 2023
The duels that Inter Miami will play on Arab soil will be part of the Riyadh Season Cup, the second stop of the preseason for the team chaired by Englishman David Beckham, who They already have a friendly match scheduled for January 19 against the El Salvador National Team in a match that will be played at the Cuscatlán stadium in the Salvadoran capital.
After the two-match series against the Arab teams, Lionel Messi and company’s Inter Miami will travel to Hong Kong where they will face a team of Asian stars on February 4, just three days after the duel against Al Nassr. The 2024 MLS season starts in the first days of March.
They see each other’s faces again
World football fans will have to mark February 1st in their diaries. That will be the date on which Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will meet once again in the friendly match between Inter Miami and Al Nassr at the Kingdom Arena stadium in Riyahd.
In this way they will be able to relive once again, possibly the last time in their careers, one of the most spectacular rivalries in the sports world in the last two decades. The Argentine and the Portuguese won individual and group awards throughout their time in the Spanish LaLiga with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.
In total they have faced each other some 37 times with a favorable balance of 17 victories for the winner of the Ballon d’Or eight times and another 11 for the Portuguese. In the goals section they are more even with 23 each.
The breakdown of the matches is distributed as follows: 18 matches for the Spanish LaLiga, six for the Champions League, five for the Copa del Rey, another five for the Spanish Super Cup and three for international friendlies.
Keep reading:
– David Beckham does not skimp on praise for the Argentine star Lionel Messi: “He is the most professional of all those I have seen”
– Ronald Koeman makes a curious comparison of Max Verstappen with Lionel Messi: “I see similarities”
– Cristiano Ronaldo scores and assists in Al-Nassr’s victory that maintains its pursuit against Al-Hilal