PSG vs Saudi All-Star XI exhibition match shows the gulf has widened between Messi and Ronaldo 

After the fractious months spent reckoning with his own footballing mortality, one could hardly imagine a more damning confirmation of Cristiano Ronaldo’s decline than his debut on Thursday evening.

His reluctant pasture makes for a kingdom’s poster here in Riyadh, where luminous billboards heralded his arrival throughout the city, yet this final chapter is an exhibition in celebrity rather than sporting conquest, a political coup de grâce rendering arguably the world’s most powerful influencer as another of Saudi Arabia’s pawns.

It was only two months ago that Ronaldo proudly told Piers Morgan a lucrative twilight in the desert held little appeal, but the temperamental saga that ended in Manchester United exile and tears at the World Cup left the 37-year-old with few alternatives.

He might have been hailed as “the world’s greatest player” at an obsequious unveiling a fortnight ago, but a reported £173 million-a-year contract with Al-Nassr marked the bitter surrender of his status among the elite.

That his first appearance will come in an exhibition game, as captain of an all-star Riyadh XI including players from arch-rivals Al-Hilal, is a testament to that — and having to share the stage with Lionel Messi will rub salt in the wound.

Paris Saint-Germain arrived in Riyadh after a pitstop in neighbouring Qatar, with Messi’s World Cup glory at the forefront of the parade. Reports have been rife in recent days that Al-Hilal are attempting to persuade the Argentina star to join Ronaldo here, but the 35-year-old’s flame is burning as ardently as ever.

A new contract at PSG — or a move to Inter Miami in the US — is expected soon, and he is the clear favourite to win the Ballon d’Or.

When he takes to the field alongside the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, it will serve as the starkest reminder of what Ronaldo has sacrificed and further the feeling that the past couple of months delivered a decisive chapter in their rivalry.

For those in Saudi Arabia, that debate means little. Reuniting Ronaldo and Messi here for the first time in more than two years, and quite possibly the last time, guarantees victory regardless of the match’s outcome.

A concerted effort to host major sporting events may already be familiar, if not relentless — the Italian and Spanish Super Cup finals were held in Riyadh in the past few days — but their magnitude is far outweighed by tonight’s spectacle and the notion that Ronaldo is now one of their own.

It may often be obscured by Saudi Arabia’s ghoulish reputation, but there is a genuine football culture here. It stems back more than a century to when foreign pilgrims introduced locals to the game on their journeys to Mecca.

The Riyadh derby, in which Ronaldo will feature in May, can command attendances upwards of 50,000 and a public holiday was declared after the national team’s shock victory over Argentina in the World Cup group stage.

When tickets went on sale for tonight’s match, over two million people supposedly joined the online queue. One fan even bid £2.1 million for a “Beyond Imagination” pass that includes perks such as access to both dressing rooms and meet and greets with Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Mbappé.

It is indeed surreal, but the excitement is not only confined to locals. One German fan said he’d spent £718 on a second-hand ticket and compared it with watching Pelé play with Franz Beckenbauer for the New York Cosmos in 1977. “It’s the sort of thing you can tell your grandchildren about,” he said.

Ibrahim Alkassim, the general-secretary of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, said Ronaldo’s recruitment will improve the quality of football in the country and inspire its young population. “When these kids attend a match every week and see Ronaldo playing, that will add to their passion,” he said. “Also, now that he’s here, that will open the door for other players to join the league.”

The latter half of that statement alludes to the Portuguese’s global appeal and how valuable it can be to a nation attempting to reform its image and diversify its influence beyond the might of its oil reserves. Although Alkassim wouldn’t confirm it, Saudi Arabia’s long-mooted bid to host the 2030 World Cup is central to that ambition.

“Every nation would love to host the World Cup but nothing is announced so far,” he said, before demonstrating a similar tact about Messi. “Who would not love to see him playing in their country?”

It is indicative of Saudi Arabia’s pull that Messi already has ties of his own here anyway. He was announced as one of the country’s official tourism ambassadors last May but while his advocacy is important, his visits have been fleeting.

Ronaldo’s presence will be a constant and the 2½-year contract he signed should mean he’s still playing for Al-Nassr when the World Cup voting process concludes in 2024. Only last week, Al-Nassr publicly denied that the move entailed “commitments to any World Cup bids”, but Ronaldo’s residency is an endorsement in itself.

Ronaldo is acutely aware of that and is keen to avoid an awkward conflict with Portugal’s rival bid, but that is the Faustian bargain he has accepted. It required an embarrassment of riches and, after Messi and PSG return to Paris, it may leave him with riches of embarrassment too.

But if he desires an audience to fête the delusions of grandeur that caused Europe’s giants to reel this winter, Ronaldo has come to the right place. He might not be dealing in the currency of meaningful records any more, but a volatile fall from grace has landed him on a different kind of pedestal, one arguably of even greater importance — and consequence. You suspect he wouldn’t have it any other.