Not a great day to be one of the world’s best players!

IT WAS a day to forget yesterday for the two greatest players of modern times, with Cristiano Ronaldo having his Manchester United contract torn up hours after his big rival Lionel Messi had suffered one of the most humiliating World Cup upsets in the tournament’s history.

Ronaldo’s Portugal open their campaign against Ghana tomorrow but there was trouble back home for the 37- year- old as United announced he was to leave with immediate effect — ending his £500,000-a-week deal seven months early without a pay-off.

The Portugal captain forced United’s hand with his bombshell Piers Morgan interview last week, claiming that the club had ‘betrayed’ him and revealing that he does not respect manager Erik ten Hag. Ronaldo said: ‘I love Manchester United and I love the fans, that will never ever change. However, it feels like the right time for me to seek a new challenge.’

Chasing the one trophy missing from his collection, Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot for highly-fancied Argentina but was left shell- shocked as rank outsiders Saudi Arabia came back to win 2-1 and top Group C.