d'Or, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's much-anticipated
meeting in Manchester ended up being memorable for the wrong reasons.
Not only did the duo fail to truly duel during Portugal's 1-0 win over
Argentina,they both only played 45 minutes before leaving the fans in
a half-empty stadium to wonder why they had paid such high ticket
prices to watch what was left of a disjointed game.
"It was bitterly disappointing that they both went off so early
because seeing them was the sole reason I came to the game in the
first place," said Caspar Carter, who had travelled from Leeds.
"We missed kick-off because we queued outside for an hour and paid £66
for our tickets, which is a lot to pay for 45 minutes of not very
much," added his friend, James Morpeth.
Given the 41,000 crowdin a 75,000-capacity stadium meant the game's
organisers failed to break even, they might regret the decision to
bring Argentina, Portugal, and the two best players on the planet to
Manchester in the first place.
Ronaldo and Messi's first match-up on English soil since 2008 had
appeared a dream for all concerned, especially when you consider the
setting had special meaning for Ronaldo thanks to the six years he
spent as a Manchester United player between 2003 and 2009.
The buzz of excitement that has surrounded him at Old Trafford since
his United debut as an 18-year-old in 2003 was still in evidence on
Tuesday evening and not just from the souvenir sellers outside the
ground, who used the opportunity to sell some old T-shirts from his
days as a Red Devil.
From the moment Ronaldo trotted out for the warm-up, it was clear most
of the crowd was with him, and not Messi, but he was unable to respond
with the sort of performance that was his trademark in a United shirt.
Many Manchester United fans came to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play for Portugal
It was his great rival, greeted by more jeers than cheers whenever he
touched the ball because of the greater number of Portugal fans inside
the stadium, who shone brighter in the brief time he was given.
The Barcelona forward was a bundle of attacking energy and involved in
all of his side's best moments before the break, setting up Angel Di
Maria to fire wide, then being unlucky not to score when he hit the
post after a neat one-two.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, was booed too - but only in jest when he passed up
the chance to take a free-kick.
He managed a few nice feints and twists and turns, but they mostly
took place in his own half. His one real chance to score, after three
drag-backs in the Argentina area, saw him blast over when he should
have passed to a better-placed team-mate.
It was a far from dazzling display, so the fans in the Stretford End
who applauded him off at the break were probably expecting to get the
chance to applaud him back on again at the start of the second half.
Instead, he failed to materialise, and the crowd's worst fears were
realised when Messi also did not reappear.
Messi went closest to scoring in the first half when he hit the post
for Argentina
They were two of many substitutions on the night, but they were the
ones who killed the atmosphere stone dead.
This friendly was always unlikely to answer the question of which of
the two is currently the best player in the world but, for some, their
exit did succeed in ending the debate over whether the evening had
offered any value for money.
"Considering I had paid £50 to see them both, I thought it was
shocking when they didn't come out for the second half," said Akram
Aanif, from Birmingham.
"They had obviously arranged beforehand how long they would both play
for and, if I had known, I would rather have stayed at home and
watched the Scotland-England friendly on TV," added Suffyan Amjad from
Burnley.
The game continued and most of the crowd remained, but there was
little else for them to get excited about - the chance to boo former
Manchester United and City striker Carlos Tevez, or cheer a pitch
invader aside.
A crowd that had been easily distracted by, among others, the presence
of Radamel Falcao, Anderson, Marouane Fellaini and Manuel Pellegrini
in the directors' box, almost lost interest entirely.
Before Portugal's late winner gave some of them something to
celebrate, their biggest show of enthusiasm had been a Mexican Wave
that completed four circuits of the stadium. It was that kind of
night.
--BBC
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