Is Ronaldo-Messi Era Coming To an End? – Both Players Show Signs Of Decline
The names Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been accustomed to winning trophies, titles, and breaking of records. They have enjoyed over a decade of dominance in the world’s greatest sport, football. While many may believe it’s an end to the Ronaldo-Messi era, it could actually be true but no one can write them off just yet!
W might have seen a lot this year, both on and off the pitch, even with the greatest names in the game of soccer performing below par this season, though not necessarily on a personal level but collectively with their respective teams.
Ronaldo, on his part, helped his Juventus side lift the Serie A title for the ninth successive seasons. Despite breaking the club’s record for the highest goal scored in a single season en route to their Serie A title, it never holds the prestige it used to given the lack of competition in Italy.
While Messi, even though he won the Pichichi award for the highest goal scorer of the season in La Liga yet again, he failed to light a single trophy this season for the first time since he was 20 years.
Thus, the claim that Ronaldo-Messi era is coming to an end seems inevitably right. Moreover, the last two seasons have seen the pair drop well below their expected levels of performances across the continent.
Meanwhile, at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo almost forced the officials to rename the Champions League competition to his name, making it his sole ownership, breaking records upon records. However, Messi struggled to make an impact at those moments. But he had helped his Barcelona side to take a stranglehold of La Liga, while they tried to look competitive in Europe as well.
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This season, thus, marks the second successive campaign that Ronaldo has failed to claim the golden boot in Italy, a rare scenario when he’s in his prime. While on the other hand, Messi’s golden boot in Spain couldn’t win a single drop of silverware for his club Barcelona this campaign.
In the Champions League that Ronaldo plays his trade best, he was dumped out of the competition together with his Juventus team by a mere Lyon. While Messi and co were humbled by in-form Bayern Munich.
Ronaldo-Messi era might not be over, but this season as we have seen, is proving otherwise. Although their stats for players who are not Ronaldo or Messi are still staggering.
Again, when it comes to domestic cups this season, Ronaldo was taken advantage of in the finals by the Naples, while Messi was dumped out of Copa del Rey by Bilbao.
There might not be any global honor to show for individual performances this season, since there will be no Ballon d’Or due to the COVID-19 disruption. But should there even be one, the likes of Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe, or Neymar would have been more worthy candidates than the Ronaldo and Messi, who have 11 Ballon d’Or awards between them.
With Ronaldo and Messi now 35 and 33 respectively, their time could be close to an end. But to blatantly say that the Ronaldo-Messi era is over is an argument no one could win easily.
If you think the Ronaldo-Messi era is coming to an end or is over, due to sub-par season, please take to our comments box and share your thoughts with us. Also, do not forget to share!