Buenos Aires could host a rare meeting of football’s defining modern rivals in December, with Carlos Tévez planning a farewell match that he hopes will place Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the same side.
Tévez prepares his final football celebration
The former Argentina, Manchester United, Juventus and Boca Juniors forward retired in 2022, but has begun organising a testimonial-style fixture for 20 December this year. Juan Román Riquelme has given approval for the event, clearing an important step toward staging the occasion.
Tévez has outlined an ambitious guest list drawn from the dressing rooms and rivalries that shaped his career across Argentina and Europe.
- Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon and Edwin van der Sar.
- Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci.
- Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes and Juan Román Riquelme.
A shared team for Messi and Ronaldo
The centrepiece of Tévez’s plan is to bring Messi and Ronaldo together rather than placing them on opposing teams. For two decades, supporters have largely only been able to imagine that pairing through video games, while the two forwards built parallel careers and repeatedly pushed one another through their Barcelona-Real Madrid era and beyond.
Tévez made his intention clear when asked about the possibility: “We will put them together.”
He added that he would personally approach both players, saying he would seek out Ronaldo himself and would also contact Messi.
A reunion across football’s great clubs
If the proposed line-up comes together, the 20 December match would gather figures linked to some of the game’s most prominent European and South American institutions: Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Boca Juniors and Argentina’s national-team history.
For Tévez, it would be a farewell staged not simply around one career, but around an era in which he shared pitches with some of the continent’s most decorated players — with the prospect of Messi and Ronaldo finally wearing the same colours for one night.
