Al Nassr vs Inter Miami: Why Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo not playing Today?

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The much-anticipated 'Last Dance' of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi hasn't taken place as both gladiators missed out on their friendly match on Thursday (February 1).

Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr are up against Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in the Riyadh Season Cup at the Kingdom Arena, but both icons of the game are not going to play a part in it.

The hyper regarding a potential duel between the two players won't take place due to injury issues of both players.

Al Nassr vs Inter Miami: Why Cristiano Ronaldo didn't play?

Cristiano Ronaldo is nursing a calf injury that he sustained during Al Nassr's China Tour. Ronaldo's injury also prompted Al Nassr to cancel their tour in China and the Portugal international hasn't fully recovered from it.

Al Nassr boss Luis Castro confirmed the news ahead of the match that his star player won't be available for the Inter Miami clash.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is in the final phase of his recovery to join the group. We will see in the coming days if he can start working with the team. He will be absent from the game," the Al Nassr coach said.

Al Nassr vs Inter Miami: Why Lionel Messi didn't play?

Lionel Messi played Inter Miami's last match against Al Hilal and also scored a goal. There were hopes that at least the Argentine will play in the match and grace the crowd with his skills, and he is on the bench.

According to reports, Messi suffered a hamstring injury during last match which kept him out of the Al Nassr tie from the start. Messi is expected to travel to Hong Kong as Inter Miami play Hong Kong Team on February 4 in their next pre-season match.