The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid was a seismic event for the Spanish giant, an event that the team is just beginning to recover from, but what is remarkable is how Barcelona - after Lionel Messi's departure from the club - is on the same path that Real Madrid followed in the immediate aftermath of Ronaldo's departure.
The two stars not only marked an entire era in the world of football, but were also symbols of an era in the League.
The two players were the heads of the apparent iceberg, and the two teams turned into a mere supporter.
Both clubs knew it would be impossible to replace the contributions of Ronaldo and Messi on the pitch, but it is hard to imagine either club predicting the huge impact and loss of the two stars on Barca and Meringue.
Real is going into its fourth season without Ronaldo, and only Karim Benzema has remained in the lead and continues his development and brilliance, in addition to the improvement and development of Vinicius Junior and Rodrigo Goes showing glimpses of brilliance.
There is light at the end of the "Ronaldo's departure" tunnel, with the possibility of Kylian Mbappe arriving in Madrid next summer.
For the Blaugrana, they are entering the eye of the storm, the worst possible moment when it becomes painfully clear what Messi brought to the Camp Nou in spherical and structural terms.
It seems naive to suggest that any player can be greater than a club, but it would not be unreasonable to suggest that Messi has been supporting Barcelona for a number of years, especially with the worsening financial crisis and failed transfer decisions.
Training changes
Real Madrid suffered a double blow in the summer of 2018, when Zinedine Zidane left and Ronaldo left, and Julen Lopetegui was the replacement coach.
Lopetegui lasted only two months and was sacked on October 29, 2018. It is interesting that Ronald Koeman suffered the same fate only two months into this season (Messi's departure), as he was sent off on October 27.
crisis results
Without Ronaldo, Real's attack was sterile and the results were immediately bad.
The same happened to Barcelona without Messi, who suffered 5 defeats and 3 draws in the first 13 games of the season in all competitions.
The "Catalan team" won only two of the last 7 matches, as Lopetegui did with "Royal" when he played 5 consecutive matches without winning.
Messi and Ronaldo guaranteed Barca and Real an average of about 50 goals per season, and neither team was able to compensate for the loss of this huge number of goals.
Los Blancos scored 21 goals in 14 games under Lopetegui, averaging 1.5 goals per game, while Koeman's Barcelona scored 16 goals in 13 games, averaging 1.2 goals per game.