RIYADH: Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates have landed in Saudi Arabia ahead of matchups against Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal in the Riyadh Season Cup.
Images of the Major League Soccer side arriving in Riyadh appeared on social media early on Friday, with the club sharing a short video of the team being welcomed with flowers and Arab coffee at King Khalid International Airport.
Miami will play Hilal on Monday and Nassr on Thursday, a match being dubbed as “The Last Dance,” a nod to the enduring rivalry between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi, who joined Inter in June, is one of the most decorated footballers in the sport. He led his side to World Cup victory in 2022 and recently scored his 100th goal for Argentina, his 800th overall.
Miami are on a global preseason tour ahead of their first match of the MLS season on Feb. 21 against Salt Lake City.
On Jan. 19, Nassr medical staff said Ronaldo would be out for two weeks due to a hamstring injury. Subsequently, a pair of Nassr fixtures in China were postponed.
“In football, some things you cannot control, and as you know I’ve played 23 years in football,” Ronaldo said, adding, “unfortunately, I have some problem.”
Ronaldo signed for Nassr in 2022 and has since been joined in the Saudi Pro League by several big-name stars from Europe’s top leagues.
Saudi Arabia’s sports authorities are seeking to make the SPL one of the top leagues in international football and have provided funding to make it happen.
But according to the Portuguese star, the league is already better than France’s top competition Ligue 1.
“Right now we are better than the French league,” Ronaldo told an audience at Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai last week, but said there was still room for improvement.
