[엑스포츠뉴스 김정현 인턴기자] Will the era of the two legends that have enjoyed one era come to an end?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were unable to prevent their team from dropping out of the round of 16 in the 2nd leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 in the 2020/21 season, held on the 10th and 11th (Korean time), respectively.
The two players’ elimination of the round of 16 occurred in about 16 years since the 2004/05 season.
Ronaldo played in the Champions League for Manchester United at the time, but met AC Milan in the round of 16 and lost a combined score of 0-2. At the time, when it was Messi’s debut season, Barcelona met Chelsea in the round of 16 and won the first leg 2-1, but lost 2-4 in the second leg of the away and lost a combined score of 4-5.
In the 2020/21 season, 16 years later, Ronaldo’s Juventus defeated FC Porto 1-2 in the 1st leg away, and Federico Chiesa scored a multi-goal at home in the 2nd leg, leading the game to overtime but fell to Porto in overtime. Goal was allowed.
Juventus was eliminated in the round of 16 after being pushed by Porto with a combined score of 4-4 and many goals away. In particular, in the 54th minute of the second game, Porto striker Mehdi Taremi was sent off, but Juventus did not overpower Porto.
Juventus was eliminated last season after being caught by Olympic Lyon in the round of 16. Andrea Pirlo, who had no experience in coaching after Sari’s manager, was chosen to be exceptional, but he was humiliated for being eliminated in the round of 16 for two consecutive seasons. Cristiano Ronaldo also has no relationship with the Champions League in Juventus.
Messi also stopped challenging the Champions League in the round of 16. Messi, too, has not been able to prevent the team’s sluggishness in the Champions League since the 2017/18 season.
Barcelona beat AS Roma 4-1 at home in the first leg in the 2017/18 Champions League quarterfinal and lost to 0-3 in the second leg away to tie 4-4, but were eliminated after being pushed out of the away goal. In the 2018/19 season Champions League, he was eliminated by winning the 1st leg 3-0 and losing the 2nd leg 0-4 in the quarterfinal match against Liverpool.
In the last 2019/20 season, Barcelona were also eliminated in the quarterfinals after experiencing the humiliation of a 2-8 defeat in a single match against Bayern Munich.
While the two players’ Champions League challenge continues to fail, they will now replace Elling Holland and Killian Mbappe to advance to the quarterfinals to win the Champions League.
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