Riyadh Season Cup 2023 winner: As part of a month-long festival in Saudi Arabia’s capital city, French champions PSG played a team including a selection of all-star players from the two biggest Riyadh-based clubs in the Saudi Pro League on January 19
In what could be their final on-field meeting, Lionel Messi and his old enemy Cristiano Ronaldo squared off against one another.
PSG’s Messi will almost certainly play in the game. Ronaldo will captain the All-Star team in this friendly even though he has yet to make his debut with his new club, Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.
Explained what is the Riyadh Season Cup 2023, PSG vs Saudi Arabia All Star winner and score
The Saudi government sponsors an annual wintertime entertainment and sports festival called Riyadh Season, which takes place in the nation’s capital at various times between October and March.
The 2023 match between Al Nassr and Al Hilal vs PSG ended with a 5-4 win for PSG while Cristiano Ronaldo was the man of the match for his two goals in the first half. Lionel Messi meanwhile scored one.
In its first year, 2019, Riyadh Season attracted a total of 10 million visitors between the months of October and January. Events such as car exhibitions, pop-up restaurants, fairgrounds, and lots of other shows (including sporting events like WWE) were spread across 12 “zones” in different parts of Riyadh.
After the 2020/21 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled for late 2021 and ran for the entire season, expanding to a bigger area and including additional events like a video game festival and a Pitbull performance.
Al Hilal and Al Nassr All-Stars were scheduled to play Paris Saint-Germain in what was supposed to be an annual friendly starting in 2021/22. However, postponement occurred as a result of COVID-19-related regulations.
What is the Riyadh Season Cup?
As was noted before, the core of the Riyadh Season festival is marked with a match between PSG and the Riyadh All-Stars known as the Riyadh Season Cup.ย Postponing the first match until January 2023 means that football fans around the world will get to witness a matchup between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the best players in the world.
It is planned that the Riyadh Season Cup will take place during the little break that many European leagues take after the holidays before resuming play.ย Sadly, the European leagues had to cram in extra games in order to make up for the men’s World Cup in December, so the friendly didn’t attract much attention. Despite their busy schedule, PSG were required by contract to play the friendly, which L’Equipe reports earned them more than โฌ10 million.
PSG, Riyadh All-Star squads
Three players, Nordi Mukiele (hamstring), Marco Verratti (quad), and goalie Lucas Lavallee, did not make the trip with PSG (hamstring). Both central defenders, Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles) and Nuno Mendes (muscle), have been sidelined for a while due to injury.
Similarly, former River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo will be in charge of the Riyadh All-Stars, which will consist of 22 players from the top two teams in the Saudi Pro League (Al Nassr and Al Hilal). Recently recruited by Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo will lead the team as captain.
ูุงุฆู ุฉ ูุฑูู ู ูุณู ุงูุฑูุงุถ ุฃู ุงู ุจุงุฑูุณ ุณุงู ุญุฑู ุงู.#ูุฃุณ_ู ูุณู _ุงูุฑูุงุถ
— ุฃุฎุจุงุฑ ุงูุณุนูุฏูุฉ (@SaudiNews50) January 16, 2023
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