Ronaldo

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo put on a show as they came head to head in Paris Saint-Germain's 5-4 win over a Riyadh All-Star XI on Thursday.

“Footballers like Ronaldo and Messi have huge profiles and we’d like to see them resisting being used as the famous faces of sportswashing, including by speaking out about human rights issues in both Saudi Arabia and Qatar.” “Ronaldo’s big-money transfer to Al Nassr and Messi’s engagement by the Saudi authorities as a tourism ambassador are both part of Riyadh’s aggressive sportswashing programme, with the authorities seeking to exploit the celebrity appeal of elite sport to deflect attention from the country’s appalling human rights record,” Peter Frankental, Amnesty UK’s economic affairs director, said in a statement. [sportswashing](https://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2020/04/27/sportswashing-history-saudi-arabia-newcastle-united-russia-china-football-world-cup-spt-intl.cnn) – a phenomenon whereby corrupt or autocratic regimes invest in sport and sports events to whitewash their international reputation – from both Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which bankrolls PSG through the company Qatar Sports Investments. “Backed by an incredibly passionate crowd at the King Fahd International Stadium, the Saudi Pro League players truly put in a performance to be proud of that showcased the strength of Saudi Arabian football.” “Players from our league relished the opportunity to pit their talents against some of the best players in the world, such as Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Achraf Hakimi, and, of course, Lionel Messi,” Saudi Pro League chairman AdbulAziz Al-Afaleq said in a statement. Despite being a friendly, the game was played at a furious pace as a packed out crowd inside the King Fahd Stadium was treated to a goal-fest between the French champion and a team consisting of the best players from Saudi’s domestic league.