With Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both ignominously crashing out of the Champions League last-16 and Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland confidently marching on to the quarter-finals, the ‘changing of the guard’ narrative is again on the rise.
Ronaldo and Messi are indisputably the two greatest players to have ever played the game but with both in their mid-thirties, it’s only understandable their prowess are on the wane and unlike before when both were in their prime.
What would happen without Ronaldo and Messi at the forefront when that day finally comes? While a much-dreaded thought in an earlier scenario, the emergence of rising young turks Haaland and Mbappe has definitely brought a sense of relief pacifying the fears of football fans all over the world. Not that both Messi and Ronaldo won’t be missed, of course.
Very noticeably, Haaland and Mbappe are already starting to break records set by the two middle-aged superstars that have gone before them and also appear to have cultivated a little fascinating rivalry of their own, so it would appear that football is indeed undergoing a smooth transition and is in good hands.
Mbappe scored four goals over two legs against Messi’s Barcelona as Paris Saint-Germain triumphed 5-2 on aggregate. Just like in the 2018 World Cup, Mbappe apparently got the better of Messi – teams’ strengths and weaknesses aside.
However, the 22-year-old has shown absolutely no intention of rubbing it in Messi’s face and has acted on the contrary in a show of respect to the older player when, on Thursday, he uploaded a touching Instagram message alongside an image of him and the Argentine.
He wrote:
“Thanks football to give me this opportunity to live this dream every day” with him gazing at Messi.
Really poignant and so beautiful a moment.
While some football fans are claiming Mbappe and Haaland have already overtaken Messi and Ronaldo at the top table of European football, BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves suggests they have a long way to go still before this claim can hold weight.
“There’s no denying Mbappe and Haaland are two of the best young players in the whole world, but the fact of the matter is Ronaldo and Messi have longevity on their side,” Hargreaves told BT Sport.
“I know Mbappe and Haaland can’t have that because they’re only young and they’re performing at a higher level, the numbers don’t lie, but Ronaldo and Messi have done this for 15 years.
“Until these guys do this for five years straight they can’t even be in the conversation with those two, with the utmost respect. They are out-producing them, but Ronaldo’s in a pretty poor Juventus team, Messi’s in a pretty poor Barcelona team, which we haven’t seen.
“In that sense, it’s exciting we’ve got the young guys that are producing as they are but the longevity we have to respect that these guys have produced for the years that they have.”