While it can’t be said when, the reality is that it won’t be long until the elites say goodbye to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who grandly spearheaded one of the strongest rivalries in football history.
Nobody wants to say goodbye to them. Just like Pelé and Maradona, Cruijff, Platini and more recent things like Casillas, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Zidane, Maldini, Ronaldo, time will punish us with the end of an era of absolute dominance. It may certainly take a few years for them to retire, but there’s no denying that their fullness has peaked and both are in inescapable decline.
It’s not about measuring your performance. Their careers are flawless and they can still stay on top and collect records. But the relief comes very strong and the new rivalry seems to have arisen between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, as the new protagonists by not having Messi or Cristiano in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 16 years.
There will be a lot of time to mourn Messi and Cristiano, but they don’t go alone. Together with them, an incredible generation of footballers and stars that dominated for two decades, with a unique legacy.
It is not urgent to delete them. It’s an expected bout of nostalgia. An inevitable review that will come sooner or later.
Just thinking about this group and their amazing accomplishments makes your skin crawl.
There will be no more Gianluigi Buffon, the best of his time, who couldn’t win the Champions League as an outrageous penalty. One of the most experienced, along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who despite
Thiago Silva and Giorgio Chiellini, who turn 37 this year, will, like Cristiano Ronaldo, take their place as legends among the best defenders in history.
Luka Modric is 36 years old, and while he can certainly perform for much longer, his best days are over and no one will be able to argue with him about a place among the best players in history, mainly because of what he has achieved at Real Madrid.
There will be no more Diego Godín, Sergio Ramos, David Silva, the ones who turn 35 this year, real winners.
And of Messi’s generation, which will turn 34 in 2021 and could give more of itself in the next three or four years, are Luis Suárez, Gerard Piqué, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín.
Granted, it will be a long time before they are all retired. But suddenly that onslaught of nostalgia invades us because time does not forgive and in an instant we will see its decline, although we will be able to appreciate its legacy from a different perspective. A great generation.