End of a cycle? 16 years later, Messi and CR7 will not be in the quarterfinals of the Champions League

The stage of the Champions League Round of 16, confirmed a downward trend for the two players who dominated Europe and world football until very recently. Neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo, for the first time since the 2004/05 campaign, will be in the quarterfinals of the main club tournament on the European continent.

End of a cycle? It is one of the great questions of the moment. Last season, both were out before the semifinals. The Portuguese in the Round of 16, falling against Olympique Lyonnais, and the Argentine in Quarters, after suffering the Lisbon disaster against Bayern Munich (2-8) that ended up taking the title. At the Da Luz stadium, Messi suffered a new disappointment, once again tremendously resounding, in the European competition that he has won four times and has not savored since 2015. That title against Juventus was inserted in a golden age for Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo, who won four crowns in five seasons.

Both were the undisputed kings of universal football. The golden balls, prizes for the best European players, golden boots. They testify this. The fact is that between the downward trend of Barcelona and the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus, both have lost prominence in the long awaited Champions League.

Fortunately, in domestic tournaments in Spain and Italy, both Messi and Cristiano have been able to console each other between leagues and cups. Although, for his ambition, it may be too little and it is a tremendous disappointment to be eliminated in no less than the eighth of the Champions League.

 The heirs invited to conquer Europe

New kings? European and world football progresses, like life itself, at full speed. Robert Lewandowski monopolized all the accolades of the past season and in this it continues being the reference of the intractable Bayern Munich. However, due to their age, 32 years, they already point to others as heirs to Messi and Cristiano: the Brazilian Neymar, the Frenchman Kyllian Mbappé and the Norwegian Erling Haaland.