Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi subs on against Al Nassr with Inter Miami down 6-0

Updated Feb. 1, 2024 3:24 p.m. ET

A match that was supposed to mark the 37th and likely final meeting between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't supposed to feature either player. A day after it was announced that Portuguese superstar Ronaldo wouldn't play for Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr in Thursday's friendly against Messi's club, MLS side Inter Miami, the Argentine legend was ruled out of the game in Riyadh because of a hamstring injury.

However, with Inter Miami down 6-0 in the 83rd minute, the 36-year-old made a brief appearance, subbing on for forward Leonardo Campana.

The match ended 6-0 in Al Nassr's favor, leaving Inter Miami still in search of its first preseason win.

Messi played in and scored in a 4-3 loss to Al Hilal on Monday, the first of Miami's two games in the kingdom this week. Ronaldo has been nursing an undisclosed ailment that forced Al Nassr to postpone a pair of exhibitions in China last month. Luís Castro, Al Nassr's Portuguese manager, said Wednesday that the 38-year-old is close to returning, but that Thursday's hotly anticipated reunion with longtime rival Messi came too soon for Ronaldo to participate.

Messi and Ronaldo faced off multiple times a season for more than a decade in Spain, where they headlined Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. That changed when Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus in Italy in 2018, but there have been other meetings since. The last one came just over a year ago, when Al Nassr hosted Messi's then-club Paris Saint-Germain. PSG won that match, though Ronaldo had two goals to Messi's one.

Inter Miami will continue its globetrotting preseason tour after leaving Saudi Arabia. The Herons next travel to China, where they'll face an all-star team from Hong Kong, then play Vissel Kobe in Japan — making it six tuneups in five countries — before flying home. Miami will host Argentina's Newell's Old Boys on Feb. 15 before opening the 2024 MLS regular season six days later at home versus Real Salt Lake.

Al Nassr will conclude the Riyadh Cup against Al Hilal next week.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men's and women's national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.