Kolkata: For the first time in 15 years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will not be a part of the Champions League semifinal. While Messi’s Barcelona were knocked out of the tournament on Friday night as they suffered a humiliating 2-8 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the quarters, Juventus were eliminated by Lyon last week.
These two results mean that this will be the first time since 2004-05, a competition where Liverpool were crowned champions after a thrilling finale against AC Milan — neither Messi nor Ronaldo will be part of the last four.
Barcelona’s loss also meant that for the first time since 2006-07 season there will be no Spanish team in the semis. Ronaldo played in the semifinals that year as a Manchester United player but eventually lost out to the champions AC Milan in the last-four tie.
This year could be just a fluke, or it could just be the beginning of the end of an era, which witnessed two legends of the modern game establish their superiority in top-level European club football. Just for the record again, Lionel Messi has six Ballon d’Or whereas Ronaldo has five. A total of 11 between them.
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