a match of records and excess

The last confrontation between the two footballing superstars, the Argentinian Lionel Messi and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, could have taken place during the World Cup in Qatar last December. But for lack of qualification of the Portuguese selection in the semi-finals, the two footballers, twelve Golden Balls between them, will find themselves on a lawn in the neighboring country, Saudi Arabia, for a friendly match Thursday, January 19.

This meeting will pit Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain against the Riyadh Season Team, a selection of players from the two main teams in Saudi Arabia, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr. Whose new recruit is… Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese signed with Al-Nassr, a club in the capital Riyadh, after the World Cup, and will make his debut in the Arabian Peninsula during this very special match.

Usually, friendly matches take place between two seasons or during the winter break, in order to prepare the team or test the new squad. However, this gala match, interspersed between two Coupe de France matches, has no sporting stakes. He has just concluded a two-day express tour of PSG in Qatar, whose sovereign fund owns the club, and in Saudi Arabia.

Commercial issues more than sports

Disembarked on Wednesday morning from their Qatar Airways plane, the club’s main sponsor, the players chained meetings with fans and sponsors: Lionel Messi went to meet the customers of the Qatari airline, while Kylian Mbappé promoted Ooredoo, local telephone company. Neymar, he praised the merits of the country on behalf of the national tourist office, installed in a hotel of the Accor group, another major sponsor of the Parisian club.

In total, this three-day commercial operation should bring 10 million euros to the club’s finances, according to an estimate from the daily L’Équipe. Or, for example, the equivalent of the annual budget of Valenciennes FC (Hauts-de-France), second division team.

Why then cross a continent for simple communication calls? On the one hand, this event was planned: the club had undertaken to meet this selection at the end of its summer internship in Qatar, but the match was postponed due to the health situation.

If this amount seems derisory put next to the salary of these stars, it remains welcome for the PSG which does not display a flourishing health. The club ended the previous financial year with a record deficit of 370 million euros. And the fabulous transfers earned him financial sanctions from the European Football Federation (UEFA) for not respecting the rules of financial fair play.

A bad sporting pass

Such a gala meeting, which could be the last of thirty-six oppositions between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, is a nice breath of financial air for the protagonists. If we do not know how the funds will be distributed between the two Saudi clubs and PSG, 27,000 spectators had already attended the training of the Parisian formation, Wednesday at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha, for a price of 5 €. In addition, the So Foot site reports that a place at “more than two million euros”, sold at auction, was bought by a Saudi real estate magnate.

If it is timely in accounting terms, this meeting comes on the other hand during a bad sporting pass for the club: the Parisians have conceded two consecutive defeats away in the league. A bad omen for the decisive double confrontation with Bayern Munich (Germany), in the knockout stages of the Champions League, in less than a month.

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