Ole! Ole!

Cristiano Ronaldo disappointed the crowd by turning down the chance of a pop at goal from a free-kick a full 40 yards out, but that is more like it.

The Portugal superstar feints twice, sending an Argentine midfielder slipping and sliding about in front of him like a drunken sailor.

Your nominations for players who overshadowed their team-mates are coming in on text and Twitter.

Rian Hoskins:, external Historically, Gheorge Hagi for Romania and Roger Milla for Cameroon or for a current example: Henrikh Mhikitarayan for Armenia

Harry Clark: , externalLiverpool and Luis Suarez last year?

The first shot in anger comes off the instep of Angel di Maria and is only a whisker wide of Beto's far post from 20 yards.

Argentina are buzzing about purposefully, pressing high and hard. It has been several gears up on the usual friendly pace so far from the South Americans.

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

"Not sure what the attendance is but the numbers have been boosted by United striker Radamel Falcao, who is in the crowd. Don't think he paid £60 for his ticket though."

After some lusty anthems we are up and running.

Cristiano Ronaldo grinned his way through Portugal's song. He looks happy in familiar surroundings.

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

Image source, Getty Images

"No prizes for guessing which players got the loudest cheers when their names were read out by the Old Trafford stadium announcer ahead of kick-off.

"Nani got a ripple of applause to show he has not been completely forgotten around these parts, but most of the Portugal players were greeted by silence, apart from a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. For Argentina, Angel Di Maria got a decent reception, but it was nothing compared to the cheer that Lionel Messi got."

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been cranking out Dixie Dean-style numbers, external for their club sides for years. And their international stats are not too far behind.

Image source, Getty Images

And if a picture paints a thousand words, this BBC Sport video does more than justice to the eight figures above.

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport

"Old Trafford is likely to be around two-thirds full tonight, with late sales probably not helped by the fact punters had to stump up £60 if they decided to pay on the gate, and the entire top tier of the stadium will remain closed.

"The fans that are here to watch Argentina play Portugal for the eighth time - or, far more likely, Lionel Messi face Cristiano Ronaldo for the 27th time - seem very excitable, though.

"They made a huge noise when the two best players on the planet emerged to warm up - Ronaldo trotting out first ahead of the rest of his side, while Messi was content to mingle with his team-mates - and continue to scream loudly at the pair whenever they go near a ball ahead of kick-off."

Head, shoulders, and torso above the rest of their team-mates, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the men attracting all the camera-phone love as the two teams warm up.

In honour of the two main men, we are looking for your nominations of teams that have been dominated by one star.

Georgi Kinkladze at a mid nineties Manchester City? George Weah on international duty for Liberia? You get the drift...

#bbcfootball and 81111 on text to give us your nominations.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

"Just two Manchester-based players - Angel Di Maria and Martin Demichelis - in the combined line-ups of Argentina and Portugal - or three if you count Nani, but that would be cheating a bit because he doesn't live here at the moment.

"City trio Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Willy Caballero are all on the Argentine bench, but the most important thing is that the two men who most people here have paid quite a bit of money to watch - Lionel Messi and former United favourite Cristiano Ronaldo both start."

BBC Sport's Nick Hope at Old Trafford: "A few hours ago I bumped into the self-proclaimed 'three Johns' selling Messi / Ronaldo scarves ahead of tonight's friendly international between Argentina and Portugal.

"Sales are going great," says one who's been here since 10am.

"Everyone wants a Messi or Ronaldo souvenir which is good for us because we're cleaning more than we would for a United home game - where most fans already have all the gear."

Portugal: Beto, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Tiago Gomes, Tiago, Moutinho, Andre Gomes, Nani, Danny, Ronaldo

Argentina: Romero; Roncaglia, Otamendi, Demichelis, Ansaldi; Biglia, Mascherano, Pastore; Di Maria, Higuain, Messi.

Image source, EPA

Well, the burger-floggers and scarf-sellers have been doing good business around Old Trafford since around midday and tonight's crowd will have more than shoddy offal and shiny acrylic to keep them warm.

In addition to the football's two supernova, there is a constellation of lesser stars to keep the blood flowing.

Manchester United's record signing Angel di Maria, Paris St-Germain string-puller Javier Pastore and Napoli spearhead Gonzalo Higuain are all in town.

Perhaps Shami Chakrabarti's talk on civil rights and liberties at the Royal Exchang, externale has lured them in?

Or maybe punk four-piece Against Me! are expecting a bumper crowd for their Academy show?, external

Or maybe, at a top ticket price of £60, it is a match too far for most people's pockets?

As of last week, only 15,000 of Old Trafford's 75,731 seats had been bought up to see Manchester United old boy Cristiano Ronaldo and perennial pub-argument rival Lionel Messi slug it out in a Portugal v Argentina friendly.

Organisers are hoping that 50,000 will actually click through the turnstiles tonight. The Daily Mail estimate that they will attract only 40,000.

Considering United and City's last two home league games attracted a combined total north of 120,000, where might Manchester's football fans be tonight?

Image source, Getty Images

"Hellooo!? Hellooo!? Anyone out there?

"Are you sure we booked it for today? I've got Nani feeding the electricity meter with a stack of pound coins, but with the bulbs in these floodlights I'll have to ask Real for a raise. Again."