This is a revolution !
For the first since the 2004-2005 season, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will both be absent from the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Barcelona, despite a fantastic floating long shot, missed a penalty and failed to lead his team to a new
comeback
against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Portuguese, for his part, is singled out for hiding in the wall on FC Porto's decisive free kick.
Their elimination at the round of 16, and their share of responsibility for these failures, are indicative of their twilight.
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Revealed in the second half of the 2000s
The Argentinean and the Portuguese have reigned, almost unchallenged, in world football since the end of the 2000s. Arrived at Manchester United in 2003 from Sporting Portugal with the label of great talent - and that of dribbler - Cristiano Ronaldo gradually established himself as an important player in Sir Alex Ferguson's squad, to the point of becoming the spearhead of the Red Devils in 2007-2008, a season in which he led his team to the European coronation and where he scored no less than 42 goals in all competitions, winning his first Ballon d'Or at the end of the year.
Lionel Messi, for his part, begins to emerge during the 2004-2005 season.
He is gaining in power, misses the Catalan success in the Champions League 2006 due to an injury, but asserts himself more and more over the years, becoming the main offensive asset of the Blaugrana and allowing them in 2009 to lifting the big-eared cup against defending champion Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United.
That year, he logically also won his first Ballon d'Or.
It is the beginning of a historic rivalry, exacerbated by the arrival of the Portuguese in Spain, in the rival club of FC Barcelona, Real Madrid.
When Lionel Messi broke Pelé's club record
Unchallenged domination
For ten years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo compete for national and European titles but also for personal distinctions.
Between the 2009-2010 season and the 2017-2018 fiscal year - the last of "CR7" in Spain - the Argentinian won six Liga, and two Champions League.
The Portuguese only lifts the Spanish league trophy twice but kisses the cup with big ears four times, three of them consecutively.
So much for the collective prize list.
But beyond these successes acquired as a team, the two attackers have especially pushed back the statistical limits during the years 2010. Let speak the figures.
The Catalan and the Madrilenian went on goal after goal, each exceeding the bar of 50 achievements in all competitions in six seasons.
Lionel Messi even reached the bar of 50 goals scored in La Liga in the 2011-2012 season, while Cristiano Ronaldo reached the bar of 10 goals in C1 for seven seasons in a row.
Simply impressive.
So - and even if some editions possibly deserved another winner - it is not surprising to see them truster the winners of the Ballon d'Or.
Between 2008 and 2019, the last time the trophy was awarded, Lionel Messi won six, Cristiano Ronaldo five.
Only Luka Modric came to interfere in the duel between the two mastodons.
It was in 2018.
No longer as decisive as before
But all reigns come to an end and the two seem to be on a downward slope.
Several things prove it.
The Argentinian has not raised the Champions League since 2015, the Portuguese since 2018. Worse, since this last coronation of “CR7”, the two men have experienced real disappointments, even humiliations on the biggest European stage.
FC Barcelona experienced a comeback against Liverpool (3-0 in the first leg, 0-4 in the return) in the semi-finals of the 2018-2019 edition, before losing 2-8 in the quarter-finals against the Bayern Munich ... Juventus Turin, for their part, lost to a great Ajax Amsterdam team in 2018-2019 in the quarterfinals and lost against Olympique Lyonnais last summer in the eighth;
two adversaries yet within reach.
Of course, they are not the only ones responsible for these failures.
It must be admitted that they are now evolving in less dominant formations, but in the past, they were able to qualify their team almost on their own;
something they can no longer do as this 2020-2021 edition attests.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 750th career goal
They are still very good
But beware, with these two football legends, the decline is relative.
After having trivialized the exceptional so much, it is logical to find the “very good” disappointing.
The statistics are still well above average: 25 goals and 11 assists in 35 games since the start of the season for Lionel Messi, 27 goals and 4 offerings in 31 matches for Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, their performance is now compared with that of other phenomena, such as Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole, named best FIFA 2020 player, would undoubtedly have won the Ballon d'Or last year if he had been awarded so much he survived.
In addition to having won everything, the Bayern Munich striker scored no less than 55 goals in all competitions in the last financial year.
A season worthy of the greatest hours of “la Pulga” and “CR7”.
But now, all eyes are on the younger generation, the one worn by Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, authors of four goals in the knockout stages of C1 this season.
The Norwegian and the French have been constantly compared for several weeks.
We are perhaps witnessing the birth of a new rivalry.
Nothing more logical, because after a twilight comes the dawn.
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