Messi – Juventus dramatically crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night, and with them went Cristiano Ronaldo.
While his European career could see the Portuguese forward retire as the Champions League’s greatest ever player, it was Porto that outshone Ronaldo on the night, winning on away goals after an extremely entertaining extra time period.
As a result, Ronaldo won’t be playing in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season, and if things go as expected tonight, neither will Lionel Messi.
Barcelona are currently 4-1 down to PSG, who looked excellent in the first leg, and won’t want history to repeat itself in the form of another embarrassing European capitulation against the Catalonian side.
If Barca do go out tonight, it will be the first time that a Champions League quarter final does not feature either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi since 2004/2005.
If Messi and Ronaldo do exit the competition at this early stage, it could act as an unofficial passing of the torch, perhaps to Kylian Mbappé and Erling Braut Haaland, both of whom are lighting up the footballing stage at every opportunity.
And while all the signs point towards a Barcelona exit tonight, we wouldn’t be writing Messi and co. off just yet, given PSG’s history in the competition.