A Saudi real estate mogul won a ticket to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi face off in a friendly after bidding $2.6 million at an auction according to an AFP news agency report.
According to the report the match was on Thursday in Riyadh between Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain against a select side made up of players from Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr and their Saudi rivals Al Hilal. The report further said that Turki al-Sheikh, an advisor at the Royal Court and head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced a charity auction for a special ticket that would come with perks like photo opportunities with players and access to the locker rooms.
Bidding started at 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,000) and Sheikh then announced on Twitter the winning bid of 10 million riyals ($2.6 million) had come from Mushref al-Ghamdi.