Leo Messi (33) and Cristiano Ronaldo (35) have starred in one of the most beautiful matches in football history.
Opposing personalities, egos expressed very differently, lofty performances and, of course, rebellious in the face of twilight.
No myth sold its ending cheap.
Messi, who tried to flee from Barcelona without success this summer, and Cristiano, who managed to escape from Real Madrid two years ago on his way to Turin, run into one of their last frontiers.
The confrontation between Barcelona and Juventus in the Champions League, beyond the reunion of two footballers who knew how to give each other feedback, is the culmination of an unrepeatable era.
It already went well for UEFA that the draw for its pandemic Champions held a sporting and advertising claim without equal.
Never before had Messi and Cristiano crossed paths in the league
, to play it in two sets of three consecutive weeks between October 20-21 and December 7-8.
They did meet both in European capital parties.
In the 2007-2008 season, before proclaiming himself European champion in Moscow, Cristiano eliminated Rijkaard's Barça with Manchester United, where Ronaldinho was already offering the witness to Messi.
In the final in Rome in 2009, with Cristiano still at United, Messi scored with his head what he himself considers the goal of his life
.
An impossible flight before Ferdinand and the Van der Sar stem.
Oaquella semifinal of 2011, in the heat of war between Guardiola and Mourinho.
The man from Rosario emerged victorious from that duel after exhibiting at the Bernabéu.
Beyond the goals (742 for Cristiano between Sporting de Portugal, United, Real Madrid, Juventus and his national team; 705 for Messi between his only club, Barcelona, and the Argentine team),
the individual recognitions (11 Ballons d'Or between the two, one more for La Pulga)
, or the European Cups (five won by Cristiano, the last one in 2018; four conquered Messi, the last one in 2015), the reunion is close to melancholy.
And the aroma of resistance to goodbye.
Messi, once he has promised not to shake up Ronald Koeman's project despite his confrontation with President Bartomeu, seems ready not to be carried away by the storm.
Cristiano, meanwhile, continues his business in Italy.
In the first two games of Serie A he has already hunted two goals
.
And Andrea Pirlo, another former idol who has been entrusted to erase the stage of Maurizio Sarri, has already been in charge of recruiting Álvaro Morata so that he can offer relief to the Portuguese.
That is, so that you are ready for the big dates.
Barcelona has the Champions League as the main source of its torments.
The collapses against Roma, Liverpool and the last 2-8 in Lisbon against Bayern force the Catalans to an immediate redemption.
In Turin, in addition, there will be those who still wait to settle an account.
Arthur Melo, whom Bartomeu's board preferred to trade for Miralem Pjanic given his uneven performance and behavior, has yet to earn a spot in Pirlo's starting lineup
.
Barcelona saw their group complete with the Ukrainian Dynamo Kiev, now led by the eternal Mircea Lucescu (75 years old), and a Hungarian Ferencvaros who has just eliminated Celtic from Glasgow, Dinamo Zagreb and the Norwegian Molde, and that should return the memory of Ladislao Kubala.
This is about legends.
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Real Madrid
Ronald Koeman
Portugal
Alvaro Morata
Italy
Cristiano Ronaldo
Europe
Leo Messi
Miralem Pjanic
sports
LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021 Pjanic: "I don't see Messi anywhere other than Barça"
Champions League 2020 - 2021Champions League draw: Messi against Cristiano, Achraf at the Bernabéu and Atlético measure the great ogre
LaLiga Santander 2019 - 2020 Few goals, 'catenaccio' and no signings: What must LaLiga change to avoid being the worst in Europe?
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