Tevez plots Messi and Ronaldo reunion as team-mates at Bombonera farewell match

Carlos Tevez is attempting to engineer one of football’s most unlikely partnerships, hoping to bring Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo together as team-mates at his farewell match at Boca Juniors’ Bombonera stadium, with December 20 pencilled in as a potential date.

Tevez, 42, never received a formal send-off when his playing career ended and is now planning a tribute game in Buenos Aires. The former striker has a unique connection to both icons: he spent two seasons alongside Ronaldo at Manchester United and represented Argentina with Messi across multiple World Cup campaigns. According to Argentine outlet Infobae, Boca president Juan Roman Riquelme — himself a member of Argentina’s 2006 World Cup squad — has already approved use of the stadium.

The proposed format, as reported by TyC Sports, would see one team made up of Tevez and friends from the football world and his old neighbourhood face a ‘Rest of the World’ side. Despite being Argentine, Messi would join Ronaldo on the Rest of the World team.

Tevez has made clear he intends to pursue both men personally. “I’ll go get them myself,” he said in April 2025. “We’ll play this game, but we’ll have to see when. It’s not easy. It would be beautiful to close the cycle with a tribute game. It would be beautiful at the end of the year.”

Beyond Messi and Ronaldo, Tevez has expressed hope of reuniting with a host of former Manchester United and Juventus colleagues, naming Edwin van der Sar, Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Andrea Pirlo, and Paul Scholes as potential participants. None have been confirmed.

The precise date remains subject to Boca Juniors’ own fixture schedule. Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s side are still competing on three fronts in the 2026 season, and if they top the clausura table they would feature in the Trofeo de Campeones on December 19, which could push the farewell match back.

Tevez made his senior debut for Boca as a teenager and went on to make more than 250 appearances for the club across three separate spells. Since retiring in 2022, he has returned to the Bombonera twice as a manager, drawing 0-0 with Rosario Central in August 2022 and losing 2-0 with Talleres in November 2025.