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[스포츠서울 정다워기자] Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) have finished this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona, to which Messi belonged, scored a 1-1 draw in the second leg of the 2020-2021 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain held at Parc de France in Paris, France on the 11th (Korean time). Barcelona, which had been defeated 1-4 in the first game, ended their journey without making a turn.
On the 10th, a day earlier, Juventus was eliminated. Juventus, who lost 1-2 in the first leg, won a 3-2 victory in the return match and tied 4-4, but was unable to advance to the quarterfinals according to the principle of many points away.
It’s been 16 years since Messi and Ronaldo were eliminated in the Champions League round of 16 side by side. Since the 2005-2006 season, one of Messi and Ronaldo has always been in the Champions League quarterfinals. The two players fighting for the best in the world usually survived the Champions League for a long time. It was common for one player to be eliminated but the other to fight for the championship. Messi did the same in Barcelona, Ronaldo followed Manchester United and Real Madrid and then Juventus.
Messi, born in 1987, and Ronaldo, born in 1985, are now in their mid to late 30s and are entering the final stages of their careers. They still boast of high-level skills, but the gap is widening little by little with the young and blue players. In this season’s Champions League alone, 2000-born striker Eling Holland (Borussia Dortmund) is the most prominent.
Unfortunately, Messi and Ronaldo are also struggling in the league. Barcelona are in second place in La Liga, and Juventus are in third place in Serie A. The Champions League championship has already passed, and the league title is on the verge of missing. The era of the two players who have not come down from the top positions in the world for a long time is passing by.
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