Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi: Outdated superstars

Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi have been at the top of world football for more than a decade. Now, in their twilight years, both are disappointing at a major tournament that could be considered the last in their illustrious careers.

In the final match of the EURO 2024 group stage, Portugal was unexpectedly defeated by the “dwarf” Georgia by 2 goals without reply . It was a disappointing match for superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. He was scored by Whoscored as the 3rd lowest score among the players in the Selecao’s starting lineup, just ahead of defender Antonio Silva and goalkeeper Diogo Costa.

Ronaldo was helpless in his team’s 0-2 loss to Georgia
The statistics about Ronaldo in the match against Georgia will certainly startle many people. He only had 17 touches of the ball during his time on the field. CR7’s passing accuracy rate is very bad, only reaching 63%. The striker playing for Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr Club only had 1 shot on target, but did not cause difficulty for the opponent’s goalkeeper.

Before EURO 2024, the Portuguese still hoped that Ronaldo would continue to play the role of “carrying the team”. People forgot that the former MU and Real Madrid star is 39 years old. He is no longer as energetic and sublime as when he led the Selecao straight to the EURO 2016 championship. According to statistics after the group stage at EURO 2024, CR7 did not score any goals . This is the first time in his career that Ronaldo has been silent in the group stage of a major tournament.

The helplessness of a player who is on the other side of his career is clearly shown through a series of unstable actions by Ronaldo. In the home team’s 0-2 loss to Georgia, CR7 expressed frustration with junior Antonio Silva. He argued fiercely with the referee and received a yellow card warning. Then when coach Roberto Martinez replaced him in the 66th minute, Ronaldo angrily kicked the water bottle while walking towards the bench…

Ronaldo is clearly past his prime, if not a burden for the Portuguese national team
It’s time for Portuguese football lovers to look straight at the truth, even though it may offend Ronaldo. Anyone can realize that CR7 is becoming a burden and hindering Selecao’s progress. Coach Martinez should probably boldly let the owner of five “Golden Ball” titles sit on the bench more in the upcoming period at EURO 2024. Maybe in the role of a “super sub”, Ronaldo will perform better.

… To Messi fading at Copa America 2024

But compared to Ronaldo at EURO 2024, Lionel Messi is even more disappointing at Copa America 2024. What M10 showed in America in the Argentina shirt made many people feel sorry for him and wanted him to make a decision soon. intend to retire. The burden of age has prevented Messi from continuing his sublime performances.

Messi is walking more and more on the pitch. He has completely lost the ability to carry the ball and “break” straight into the opponent’s defense. Opponents no longer need to arrange too many players to follow the star player of Inter Miami Club. Because Messi no longer has much strength to move. His slowness even slows down the attack tempo of the Argentina team.

The burden of age also makes Messi (No. 10) pale in Copa America 2024
After his team’s 1-0 victory over Chile, Messi explained to reporters about his lethargy on the field. He emphasized that his health is having problems. Specifically, M10 revealed that he was sick right before the match with Chile. In addition, the adductor muscle injury is still tormenting the Argentinian player and he has to grit his teeth to suppress the pain to play.

Messi is also 37 years old this year. His body has been suffering from a debilitating disease since childhood, so compared to his “rivals” in the past few years, the Argentinian superstar seems to be deteriorating faster. Therefore, coach Lionel Scaloni no longer forces M10 to bear the responsibility of scoring goals, but mainly exploits his strengths as a creator. That is the reason why since the Copa America 2024 started until now, Messi has not scored any goals.

Compared to Portugal, Argentina is somewhat luckier. Coach Scaloni has many good strikers in hand and they are ready to replace Messi to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals. At Copa America 2024, Lautaro Martinez is regularly “shooting bullets”, and Julian Alvarez is also playing very well. Thanks to that, the Tango team still regularly wins and is still considered a bright candidate for the championship in this year’s tournament.