Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace against Paris Saint-Germain in an entertaining reunion with long-time rival Lionel Messi in an international friendly between the Riyadh All-Star XI and PSG on Thursday evening.

Messi and Ronaldo shared the pitch for the first time since the Portuguese turned out for the Juventus side that defeated Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League group stages in October 2020.

The pair have previously met on 36 occasions, with Messi winning 16 of those matches compared to Ronaldo’s 11 victories.

The Portuguese superstar marked his debut in Saudi Arabia with two goals and a man-of-the-performance in their 5-4 defeat against Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi opened the scoring for the Ligue 1 side after Neymar played him through on goal with only two minutes on the clock.

Ronaldo responded by grabbing a goal of his own to draw the game level when he slotted home a spot kick after he was fouled by PSG keeper Keylor Navas.

The French side were then reduced to 10 men after Juan Bernat was shown his marching orders after a last man foul on Salem Al Dawsari.

PSG eventually took the lead when two minutes before the breakthrough defender Marquinhos before Neymar had a penalty saved by Mohammed al Owais.

Ronaldo completed his break in stoppage time to draw the game level heading into the half time break at 2-2.

Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos managed to give PSG the lead in the 54th minute before Jang Hyun-soo equalised two minutes later.

The 37-year-old was unable to complete his hat-trick as he was withdrawn after an hour.

A converted penalty by Kylian Mbappe and a goal from Hugo Ekitike put the visitors two goals ahead before Anderson Talisca pulled one back as PSG held on to secure a 5-4 victory in a nine-goal thriller.

Photo by EPA/STR