The supervisors of the Riyadh season announced that an agreement had been reached with the American team Inter Miami, led by its Argentine star, Lionel Messi, to participate in a friendly three-way tournament with two Saudi teams, Al-Nasr and its Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Al-Hilal.
Hours after the news was announced, Inter Miami denied its commitment to participate in the triple tournament scheduled for the first week of next February in the capital, Riyadh, in the Kingdom Arena area, which was recently inaugurated at the opening ceremony of the fourth edition of the Riyadh season, according to the league system.
Inter Miami said in a statement, “An announcement was issued on Tuesday claiming that Inter Miami FC will play in the Riyadh Season Cup. This is not true.”
He added, “The statement included statements attributed to team owner Jorge Mas. Mas did not make any comments, publicly or privately, regarding the preparatory round for the new season.”
According to the organizers of the traditional Riyadh Season Cup, Inter Miami is invited to meet the Saudi teams Al-Nasr and Al-Hilal. The idea was to organize a face-to-face match between Messi and Ronaldo, in one of the last, if not the last, confrontations between the two giants in the twenty-first century.
The organizers explained that the tournament will be the talk of the world, and will be held under the tag “The Last Dance,” with the participation of Messi and Ronaldo, in addition to the stars of Al Hilal, the Club World Cup runner-up, led by Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic, and the best player in Asia, Salem Al-Dosari.
Messi, who won the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world eight times, and Ronaldo, who won it five times, met face to face 37 times in their professional careers, including 30 times in the Spanish El Clasico, when the Argentine was defending the colors of Barcelona and the Portuguese was defending the colors of Real Madrid.
According to two football statistics, Messi won 17 times and Ronaldo 11 times, with nine draws.
The last confrontation between the two stars was on January 19, 2023 in Riyadh, during a friendly match in which the French club, Paris Saint-Germain, led by Messi, won against an elite group of the best players who play in Saudi Arabia, led by its captain, Ronaldo, 5-4.
Counselor Turki Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority, praised Inter Miami’s participation, noting that the tournament will witness global follow-up to the international names owned by the three clubs.
He stressed that the tournament comes as an extension of the major global events that the Riyadh Season presents to its visitors and the world.
For his part, businessman Jorge Mas, one of the owners of Inter Miami, welcomed his team’s participation in the Riyadh season, praising the great development witnessed by football in the Kingdom, in addition to the major transformations witnessed in the entertainment sector.
2023-11-21 23:36:20
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