Lionel Messi has declared what could be his final match against generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo later this month in Saudi Arabia.
According to an Instagram post on Wednesday, the Argentine’s Inter Miami team will compete in the Riyadh Season Cup from January 29 to February 2.
“I can’t wait to be a part of [the] Riyadh Season Cup with my team Inter Miami FC as we face top Saudi clubs in a historic championship,” the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner captioned a promotional paid partnership post in both English and Spanish.
The Riyadh Season Cup is part of the state-funded Riyadh Season, which started in 2019 and includes a variety of sports such as soccer and boxing.
The current season began in October last year with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s cross-over boxing bout against ex-UFC heavyweight king Francis Ngannou, with other events including the Spanish Super Cup, which begins on Wednesday.
FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, Messi and Ronaldo’s old teams, might meet in the final if they defeat Atletico Madrid and Osasuna in separate semi-finals.
But while the pair that lit up El Clasico from the late 2000s until Ronaldo’s move to Juventus in 2018 will play no part in the 40th edition of the Super Cup, fans of the sport will still get the chance to see them lock horns in what has been nicknamed their ‘Last Dance’.
With both Inter Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr competing in the Riyadh Season Cup, this could be the last time we witness this generation’s two greatest players – if not the greatest players of all time – share a pitch.