It was billed as the "Battle of the Ballon d'Or" but instead, the friendly match between Lionel Messi's Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal turned into a bleak affair at an Old Trafford that was certainly half empty, not half full.
With ticket prices reaching as high as £60, little over 40,000 people turned up to see a last-minute goal from Raphael Guerreiro edge Portugal to a 1-0 victory over this year's World Cup finalists. Spectators had been lured with the promise of seeing a showdown between the world's two greatest players but the simple fact is they never really got going – and they probably were never going to for an exhibition match on foreign soil – which led them to being substituted at half-time.
Football fans felt like they'd been shortchanged.
The rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo has grown even more personal this month, with extracts from a new book by football journalist Guillem Balague alleging that Cristiano has a rather NSFW nickname for Barca's brilliant star.
They didn't even pretend to be arch rivals for the Old Trafford crowd.
We hope they sort themselves out before the next El Clasico.
[via Bleacher Report]
