GiveMeSport
·29 January 2024
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·29 January 2024
Al-Hilal's Michael has gone viral after he scored against Inter Miami and pulled out Cristiano Ronaldo's famous celebration right in front of Lionel Messi. The two clubs were facing off in a friendly and after the winger got on the score sheet, he couldn't resist. The MLS side has put together a side featuring several of football's biggest icons following Messi's arrival last summer. The likes of Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba all started alongside the Argentine, but Al-Hilal boasts quite the team themselves right now too.
The Saudi Pro League side, who are currently first in the division, started the game with stars like Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Malcom and Aleksandar Mitrovic, and it was them who came firing out of the gates early. Goals from Mitrovic and Al Hamdan gave Al-Hilal a two-goal lead inside the first 15 minutes before Suarez got on the scoresheet shortly after the half-hour mark to pull one back.
With half-time approaching, Michael extended the lead to 3-1 and decided he was going to use the moment to make a statement, celebrating in a fashion that Al-Nassr's Ronaldo made famous.
With it looking like the two teams would go into half-time with one goal separating them, Michael had other ideas. In the 44th minute, he got onto the end of a sublime cross into the area, rising up just outside of the six-yard box and nodding it home to extend the lead. From there, he decided to pull out the iconic celebration made famous by Messi's biggest rival Ronaldo. The moment quickly went viral on social media too.
It wasn't long before footage of Messi reacting to the moment surfaced online too. One fan in the ground recorded him shortly after the goal, and it's also gone viral on social media.
It seems the incident might have lit a fire under the Argentine, though, as he came out and almost single-handedly turned the game on its head in the second half.
The moment lit a spark under Messi and he came out after the restart, determined to make an impact and he did just that. After his side won a penalty in the 54th minute, the 36-year-old converted the spot kick to pull one back for Inter Miami. Just a minute later, he assisted David Ochoa to level things up.
It would have been a miraculous comeback for the USA club, but it wasn't to be as Malcom bagged a winner for Al-Hilal in the dying minutes of the game. It was a brilliant meeting between the two clubs and will set Miami up nicely as they prepare for the start of the MLS season.