A real estate businessman from Saudi Arabia has spent a whopping amount of Rs 22 crore to buy a ticket to watch Cristiano Ronaldo face off against Lionel Messi, winning the bid during a charity auction for $2.6 million. The match on Thursday in Riyadh is feature FIFA World Cup 2022-winning star Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain against a Saudi select side made up of players from Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr and their Saudi rivals Al Hilal.

It will mark the first time Ronaldo has played any football in the Saudi kingdom since signing a contract with Al Nassr that runs until 2025 and is worth more than 200 million euros ($214m), according to sources close to the club. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is scheduled to make his Saudi Pro League debut for Al Nassr on Sunday.

To promote Thursday’s friendly, Turki al-Sheikh, an adviser at the Royal Court and head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced a charity auction for a special ticket that would come with perks like photo opportunities with players and access to the locker rooms. Bidding started at 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,000) and the auction closed at 11:30pm (20:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

Al-Sheikh then announced on Twitter the winning bid of 10 million riyals ($2.6m) had come from Mushref al-Ghamdi. “Congratulations, you deserve it, and may God reward you with good,” Sheikh said.

The proceeds from the auction are due to go to the national charity campaign known as Ehsan.

One of the greatest rivalries in soccer history is set to resume at the unlikely venue of Riyadh’s King Fahd International Stadium. The stage is set Thursday for Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo when Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain takes on a combined XI of Saudi Arabian teams Al Nassr and Al Hilal in an exhibition match.

A Saudi real estate mogul has won a ticket to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi face off in a friendly after bidding $2.6m at auction https://t.co/ld7f6lo5ix pic.twitter.com/tMMFVAhHhN
— AJE Sport (@AJE_Sport) January 18, 2023

Riyadh is where Ronaldo has decided to base possibly the final years of his storied career after signing a deal worth a reported $200 million-a-year to join Al Nassr. The game against Messi and PSG offers a reminder of the Portugal international’s glory days before Ronaldo focuses on Al Nassr’s domestic title challenge and bid to qualify for the Asian Champions League.

The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry was never greater than when they played for Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, and their scoring feats saw the players dominate Spanish and European football. The showdown with Messi in these circumstances would have been unthinkable just a year ago when Ronaldo was still scoring with regularity for an albeit struggling Manchester United team.

Messi and Ronaldo have experienced vastly differing fortunes over the last 12 months. Messi finally won the World Cup with Argentina in December. Ronaldo was dropped by club and country, had his United contract terminated and eventually joined Al Nassr in one of the most surprising moves in football history.

It will be Ronaldo’s first action in Saudi Arabia after serving a two-match suspension issued by the English Football Association for slapping a mobile phone out of the hand of a fan after a match between Man United and Everton last April. His debut for Saudi league leader Al Nassr is set for Sunday against Ettifaq.

(with PTI inputs)