El Clasico Miami, the highly-anticipated clash between
Spanish titans Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is on Saturday at Hard Rock
Stadium, and still, a burning question remains unanswered: Will Cristiano
Ronaldo show up?
The Madrid superstar, who has 107 million Instagram
followers and many fans in South Florida, was not in Santa Clara, Calif., with
his team on Sunday for their International Champions Cup opener against
Manchester United. Nor is he expected for Wednesday's game against Manchester
City in Los Angeles.
But ICC officials are in contact with Ronaldo and his
handlers, and they remain optimistic that he will make it to Miami for
Saturday's game.
"We are doing everything we can to get him here,"
said Daniel Stillman, the CEO of the ICC. "We are still hopeful that he
will make it."
Ronaldo, 32, has been on an extended summer vacation after a
long season with Real Madrid, the June 8 birth of his twins, and a run to the
June 28 semifinals of Confederations Cup in Russia with Portugal's national
team. He also is scheduled to testify July 31 at a tax fraud hearing in Spain,
leading to rumors that he would not be able to fit El Clasico Miami into his
schedule.
Ronaldo spent this past weekend in Asia, fulfilling
commercial obligations. He was in Singapore on Friday meeting with friend and
billionaire Peter Lim, who owns Spanish club Valencia and owns Mint Media,
which owns Ronaldo's non-Real Madrid image rights. On Saturday, he went to
Shanghai for an endorsement event, and also visited Beijing.
He was reportedly back in Madrid on Monday, but his plans
the rest of the week are unknown. The Real Madrid and Barcelona teams and their
entourages are due to arrive in Miami on Thursday, after playing games in
California on Wednesday night. They will be staying within blocks of each other
in downtown Miami.
The Barcelona roster for the U.S. tour includes Argentine
megastar Lionel Messi (76.4 million Instagram followers), Brazilian star Neymar
(who is being wooed by Paris Saint-Germain), Uruguay standout Luis Suarez, and
Spaniards Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta.
Among the Real Madrid stars due to be at the game Saturday
are Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, Wales star Gareth Bale, Crotian Luka
Modric, Karim Benzema of France, and Toni Kroos of Germany.
A sellout crowd of 64,767 is expected at Hard Rock Stadium
on Saturday for the match. A few thousand tickets remained as of Monday
afternoon.
More than 40,000 are expected for Wednesday's game between
French club Paris Saint-Germain and Italian team Juventus. PSG has been based
in Miami for a week, and held an autograph session Sunday at the Mandarin
Oriental Hotel, which was attended by 300-400 fans, and open training session
Monday morning at Barry University.
A crowd of 25,000-plus is expected at the stadium Friday
night for Barcelona and Real Madrid training sessions, with tickets ranging
from $20-$30. Barcelona is practicing from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and Real Madrid
trains from 8 to 9:30 p.m.
Casa Clasico, a free fan fest at Bayfront Park downtown with
live music and soccer interactive activities, is open Friday and Saturday from
11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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