Which league is more powerful, the Saudi or the American? Which team is better, Inter Miami or Al Nassr? These are questions that generate endless discussions between the admirers of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who express their rivalry even now when the best days of both are behind them. In reality, these are different ways of asking who is better: Messi or Cristiano. Aware of the morbidity that this rivalry creates, the owners of Inter Miami and Al Nassr have agreed to a confrontation between their teams scheduled for February. It will be a triangular tournament in which Neymar will also be there.
Messi and Ronaldo have faced each other 35 times in their careers, with 16 wins for Messi's team, 10 for Ronaldo and 9 draws. In these games, Messi has scored 21 goals and provided 12 assists, while Ronaldo has 20 goals and one assist.
Both Messi and Cristiano have become stars of their respective leagues. The Saudi has a wider range of stars to sign at the click of a button. Messi's arrival caused a stir in the USA. Amas are well below the competitive level of the European leagues and especially the Spanish ones, where the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo was cemented in Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Inter Miami will travel to Saudi Arabia where it will play two games in a triangular round-robin tournament against Saudi powers Al-Hilal SFC and Al Nassr FC.
Messi's team will face Al-Hilal for the first time on Monday, January 29th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The Saudi team is the most successful in Asian history with 66 titles and is currently in first place in the league. There are players like Neymar (who is unavailable due to injury), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Rubén Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Malcom. It is led by former player and former Sporting CP coach Jorge Jesus.
Later, on Thursday February 1st, Inter will play Al Nassr, also at the Kingdom Arena. The team, coached by Portuguese helmsman Luís Castro, currently sits second in the table behind Al-Hilal and also boasts other players such as Sadio Mané and Aymeric Laporte.
“This is another great opportunity to build lasting relationships with passionate fans. “We are excited to connect with new fans in Saudi Arabia and we also hope that people from all over the world will watch the games to see two dream games like this,” Inter Miami CEO Xavier Asensi said. in a statement.
“These games will be an interesting test for our team that will benefit us ahead of the new season. “We are pleased that our group has the opportunity to compete against teams of the quality of Al-Hilal and Al Nassr,” said Chris Henderson, sporting director of the Florida club.
As part of its pre-season, Inter Miami has already announced a game against the El Salvador national team in January, as well as another game on the international tour with a game in Hong Kong against the Hong Kong team.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.