Over 41,000 football fans gathered at Old Trafford to witness two of the biggest names in the sport, but the game was regrettably dismal, as far as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were concerned.
However, in a report by Telegraph, the battle between the two superstars lasted only 45 minutes when the Portuguese and Argentine were substituted.
At the start of the match, the two team captains led their teams out onto the field. Majority of the giant crowd were rooting for Ronaldo, although many also wished to witness Messi score one at least for Argentina. Messi appeared more studious during the match.
Ronaldo showed some skills in front of Facundo Roncaglia to the delight of the Manchester United crowd. However, he lashed over the bar in the same manner that Messi did from a free-kick. Messi managed two small shimmies and impressed the crowd with his ball handling. His one big attempt was from the Biglia pass. He played a one-two with Lucas Biglia before slightly hitting the near post of Beto from a tight angle. The effort, however, did not convert to a goal. Ronaldo countered by moving inside twice against Argentine defenders and fired over the bar. However, these were the only big plays that the fans saw from their £60-per-head tickets, based on the same report by Telegraph.
Goal.com reported that both Ronaldo and Messi were substituted by Nani and Javier Mascherano in the second half. Argentina's manager, Tata Martino, admitted later that withdrawing their superstar early was the plan from the start. Both superstars fired blanks but the rest of their teams also had exciting plays to please the fans. Angel Di Maria exerted a lot of effort and gave Beto a hard time, seeming to show grudge against the club that exiled him. Ricardo Quaresma also held a grudge as always, later proving to be fatal for their opponents.
Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero were booed by fans after transferring to Manchester's opponents.
At one point in the game, BBC reported that Nani, who was on loan from the Premier League club, caught Angel Di Maria. Fans and Louis van Gaal of the Red Devils were glad that the incident was minor with Di Maria being able to immediately rejoin the action. Di Maria was also substituted minutes later.
Without the main scorers, both teams had difficulty finding good open shots. In the end, it was 20-year-old Raphael Guerreiro who effectively met Quaresma's cross to score one for Portugal. The game ended 1-0.
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