Messi and Ronaldo The prestige of the Saudi Arabian League has immediately skyrocketed since Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al Nassr. Secretary General of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation Ibrahim Alkassim also hopes that Lionel Messi can follow in the footsteps of his rival. Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in January 2023. He joined for free after his contract ended with Manchester United in November 2022. Even though he was free, Ronaldo is currently the highest paid footballer.
Messi, whose contract will expire with Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2022/2023 season, was also rumored to be moving clubs. One of the rumored clubs is Al Hilal. Al Hilal and Al Nassr are rivals in Saudi Arabia. If Messi really joins Al Hilal, then the rivalry when the two of them defended Barcelona and Real Madrid would repeat itself.
Don’t Know the Truth
Alkassim had also heard of the rumours. However, he admits that he does not know the truth. “At the moment, we don’t know anything about the arrival of Lionel Messi to the Saudi Arabian League,” he told Marca. “Although we have hope to have him in our domestic league one day,” he hoped.
Play in the Same League
Alkassim realizes that the rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi has long attracted the attention of many people. He did not deny that dreaming of uniting them in the same league again is something interesting. “The big idea of our federation is to always improve the quality of football here,” he said. “And of course we want to see Ronaldo and Messi in the same league again. But in reality, we don’t know anything at this time,” he said.
Extend contract
Alkassim’s dream seems to be buried deep. Reports claim that Messi intends to extend his contract with PSG. If that happens, the possibility of seeing Messi and Ronaldo in the same league again will certainly be very difficult, even almost impossible at their current age.