Two Stars Collide but No Explosion

This week’s international friendly matches had number of eye attracting fixtures, and Argentina v Portugal was supposed to accompany Spain v Germany as the top of the lot.

The pairing of these two nations is always going to be about Messi v Ronaldo, but this friendly had an unlikely hero.

It was a neutral-site match, hosted at the Theater of Dreams where Ronaldo is a god, and what a reception it was for the Ballon d’Or favorite of this year. 

However, this high profile clash failed to get fans off their seats as the only goal of the game came in the dying minutes with Portugal's unmarked Raphaël Guerriero bagging it from a Ricardo Quaresma cross.

Note the only real highlights of this match were the two maestros appearing together at the coin toss, the goal itself, and the play-by dude doing what Latin play-by dudes do:

Ronaldo wonders but not this day. Ronaldo was taken off at half time. For his brief appearance, he could only do so much. Messi, on the other hand, has been struggling with his form, and it showed. He couldn’t deliver and contribute enough.

Messi and Ronaldo collide on the domestic scene once again on 22 March 2015 for another El Clasico. The anticipation is for the pair to provide a bigger impact than they did last week.