JAKARTA - Cristiano Ronaldo will play team captain when making his debut in Saudi Arabia. He will play a friendly against French giant Paris Saint-Garmain (PSG), this week.
The international Portuguese superstar will be included in the Al Nassr and Al Hilal joint squad that will host Les Parisiens at the Raja Fahd Stadium in Riyadh. This friendly match will be held on Thursday, January 19 local time or Friday morning WIB.
Turkey's Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority Board chairman Al-Sheikh has confirmed the news via uploads on Twitter. In the uploaded video clip, he was seen handing over the captain's armband to the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
"Promise, God willing, on January 19, matches beyond what is imagined. The squad will be announced tomorrow by the coach," he wrote accompanying the video clip.
This match will certainly attract the attention of the world of football. The reason is, Ronaldo made his debut in the Middle East by directly facing his competitor Lionel Messi who might also play in that match.
Al-Nassr coach Rudi Garcia recently confirmed the former Real Madrid player will play in the friendly match. It will mark his presence before making an official debut for the leader of the Saudi Pro League standings.
"I hope that day we will forget the rivalry between Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr for two hours... and after two hours we will stop the ceasefire," Turkey added.
Ronaldo joined Al Nassr at the end of December this year with a wage agreement of IDR 3.3 trillion per year. However, he has not been able to make an official debut because he is still undergoing a ban from the FA.
The 37-year-old had to miss Al Nassr's last two games for destroying Everton fans' phones last April. The penalty is only in effect now due to a long investigation.
The player who holds this international goal record is expected to debut in the Saudi Pro League match against Ettifaq on Sunday, January 22.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
