It appears that the highly-anticipated Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo faceoff may have been delayed after the Portuguese star developed an unspecified “health issue”, leading to the postponement of his club’s trip to China during the mid-season break. 

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The Saudi club was scheduled to play two friendly matches in China against Shanghai Shenhua and Zhejiang FC starting Wednesday (Jan 24). However, the main selling point was Ronaldo’s eventual meeting with Messi’s Inter Miami, back home, in the Kingdom Arena in the Riyadh Cup, post the culmination of the China Cup.

The two heavyweights of the sport continue to attract eyeballs despite last sharing the European stage in La Liga in 2018 before Ronaldo went to Italy to play for Juventus. 

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On Tuesday, during a press conference, Ronaldo informed about the decision and apologised to the Chinese fans. 

“For me, today is a sad day. In football, some things you cannot control, and as you know I’ve played 23 years in football,” said Ronaldo, adding: “Unfortunately, I have some problems.”

Ronaldo made it clear that his club was not cancelling the games and that he will be back soon. 

“I’m coming to China since 2003, 2004, so I feel (at) home here, I feel this is my second home, not only because the welcome of the Chinese people but the culture that you have for me,” Ronaldo said.

“I love this country, I love to be here, I love to be with you guys and I want to play for you. We’ve not cancelled the (games). We want to be back here to your country.”

Fans hope for miracle

A hashtag about Ronaldo’s apology quickly became one of the trending topics on Chinese social media site Weibo and as of last update, it had amassed more than 19  million views. 

Both matches were highly anticipated in the Asian country as the tickets were sold out, mere hours after going on sale, earlier this month. While both matches stand cancelled, fans are hoping for a miracle that Ronaldo recovers in nine days time to face Messi. 

Messi and Ronaldo have faced off 35 times between matches for club and country with the former’s team winning 16 and the Portuguese emerging victorious in 10. Nine occasions have seen the two men play draws. 

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