The end of an era? The question concerns Messi and Ronaldo and arises spontaneously after the Champions League matches of recent days, which saw both of them eliminated already in the round of XNUMX. It hasn't happened for 15 years, or rather from the 2004/05 season: la Pulce, 17 years old, was defeated by Chelsea, while CR7, just turned 20, left the stage at Ancelotti's Milan. Three decades, in football, are equivalent to another era and in fact since then the two phenomena have taken everything, winning, among other things, 9 Champions in two (5 for Ronaldo, 4 for Messi) and 11 Ballons d gold (6 for Argentinian, 5 for Portuguese).
Now, however, the scenarios seem to have changed, because if it is true that both continue to have a very important return, it is also true that, at an international level, they no longer seem able to make a difference like before. In fact, the eliminations with Porto and Psg are not two bolts from the blue, but the third clue that would seem to test. Two years ago CR7, who had just moved to Juventus, was defeated by Ajax in the quarterfinals, while Leo stopped one round later against Klopp's Liverpool, last year however the Portuguese said goodbye to the Champions League with Lyon in the second round, with the Argentine literally overwhelmed in the quarterfinals by Bayern Munich (8-2!).
In short, the two Martians are trudging along and the identity card doesn't play in their favor: the time to say goodbye hasn't arrived yet, God forbid, but certainly there won't be many opportunities to excel. Also because, in the meantime, the new recruits are advancing and this time with great success. If the "Neymar" return turned out to be a hole in the water, the same cannot be said of the current one, captained by Mbappé and Haaland. The Frenchman, already world champion in 2018, is now a full-blown champion and is ready to assault the Ballon d'Or, unless the Norwegian steals the show by winning the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund.
In any case, if it were not for either of them, the scepter of best player in the world would go to Lewandowski, stopped only by Fifa's (questionable) decision not to award the prize in the year of the pandemic. It seems incredible, but for the first time in many years, Messi and Ronaldo are not even taken into consideration, at least at the moment: the European Championship with Portugal could give new impetus to CR7, but it would almost take a miracle. Cycles pass and this one, truth be told, lasted like no other before, yet the fall of the gods always makes a noise. Barcelona and Juventus are also realizing it, and they don't seem at all eager to continue their journey with the two very expensive stars.
Messi, whose contract expired in June, has not yet renewed his contract, even if the stalemate is mainly due to the corporate chaos of the blaugrana, now passed into the hands of Laporta. In theory, with the president's return to command, the marriage could continue, but certain figures (the Spanish newspapers have revealed that La Pulce has cost more than 4 million euros in the last 500 years!) frighten him too. especially in a time of crisis like this. The discourse between Ronaldo and Juve, on the other hand, is different, above all because the Portuguese still has a year on his contract.
However, the feeling is that the Bianconeri, equally affected by the pandemic (the first half of the budget saw a deficit of 113 million), are seriously thinking of parting ways with their star: in doing so they would get back part of the money spent on the transfer (today worth about 60 million) and, above all, they would save the monstrous signing of 31 million net, which gross are more or less double. A couple of years ago clubs would never have thought of giving up Messi and Ronaldo light-heartedly, but now it seems they can hardly wait. A sign of the times, but be careful not to speak too soon: in fact, those two have already demonstrated several times that they do not accept defeats so easily, even when they seem impossible to counter.
