Skip to main content

2021 - The Beginning of A New Champions League Dynasty

From 2007-2019, every Champions League semi-final appearance featured the talents of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. This stat alone is more than enough to cement them amongst some of the greatest talents that football has ever seen, but in recent years this talent has gone stale. With Messi\"s Barcelona squad failing to reach a Champions League Final since 2014 and Ronaldo continuing to struggle at Juventus, the world has been on the lookout for the future of football. It is without a doubt that Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are that future. 

In the most recent Champions League campaign, Messi\"s Barcelona saw an eased exit against Mbappe\"s PSG, in which the Frenchman netted 4 goals over 2 legs. Similarly, Haaland smashed 5 past Sevilla over 2 legs, pushing Dortmund into their first Champions League quarter-final since 2017. In my mind, these acts represented a lot more than a space in this year\"s quarter-finals - it\"s the changing of the guard. 

Mbappe began his campaign to the top flight of football with an astounding run with Monaco in 2017. This is where he truly announced himself as a world-class talent, scoring 6 goals in 12 Champions League appearances. He reinforced this with a World Cup winning effort with France in 2018, scoring 4 goals - 2 of which coming in the Final against Croatia. This duel effort earned him a pricetag of €180 million and a place in the PSG first team where he has moved from strength to strength. 

Haaland has had an equally meteoric rise to the top of club football. Announcing himself with FC Red Bull Salzberg in 2019 before moving to Dortmund in 2020. Here he has produced quite sintilating front man performances, scoring 47 goals in 48 appearances for the German giants - 10 of which came in last years Champions League campaign. Right now, Haaland is on the hunt for a new club and has a bargain price of only £75 million - pocket change for the likes of Real Madrid or Manchester City. 

It\"s not often that sports fans are blessed with watching the most skilled and hardworking players to ever grace a football pitch, all in the same era, but luckily we have had that privilege with Messi and Ronaldo. For over a decade they have produced at the very top end of club and world football, but unfortunately time is a b****. 

2021 represents the end of Messi and Ronaldo\"s reign on world football, which don\"t get me wrong, is a heartbreaking time for every football fan. Can these two ever be replaced? Definitely not. But Mbappe and Haaland are as close I think we\"re going to get, and if we\"re really lucky - they might even be better. 

Kylian Mbappe - Wikimedia




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athlete's Wages - The Price WE Pay For World-Class Sport

In 2014, Michael Jordan became the first billionaire athlete with his combined assets reaching an estimated $1.9 billion. Since then, athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher have all joined the billionaire club as a reward for their decades of hard work and sacrifice to become some of the greatest sportsmen of all time. However, no matter what year you choose, the world always seems to be in some sort of economic crisis  and every day people lose their livelihoods so that people further up the food chain can live a little more lavishly. Professional athletes are treated like gods whilst the mortals within the general public continue their daily struggle to make ends meet. The worst part? The deeper you dig, the more outrageous this illusion becomes. Let's start with some infamous salaries from this year alone (before endorsements and sponsorship):   NBA: Average Salary - $7 million           Highest Paid - Stephen C...
2 comments
Read more

"Pistol Pete" Maravich - The Most Underrated NBA Legend of All Time

When people talk about inventors that were ahead of their time, some might say Leonardo Da Vinci, Plato, or Hero of Alexandria. But if you ever want to find a man that was born into the wrong era, look no further than "Pistol Pete" Maravich.  Now, I'll admit, Pete Maravich isn't exactly a household name in today's NBA and I doubt you'll find him on any all-time lists. However, in the basketball world, there are two main things that Maravich is known for:  1. Having very bad knees. 2. Being one of the best NBA guards of all time.  As the son of a tough basketball coach, Press Maravich, Pete was sculpted into the mould of a great basketball player. The legend of "Pistol Pete" started at Louisiana State University from 1967-1970 and he immediately set the college basketball scene alight. Over 3 seasons, he averaged 44.2 points per game, an NCAA record that still stands to this day and is a stat that arguably makes him the greatest college basketball pla...
Post a Comment
Read more

We Were Wrong

International football is a strange paradigm. The same fans who pushed England to the brink of their best result in 55 years are the same fans that have brought nothing but disgrace to themselves and the nation after Sunday nights heartbreaking exit at Euro 2020. After just 1 minute at 37 seconds, Luke Shaw raised a nation to it’s feet, only for Italy to bring us crashing back down to our sofas with our heads in our hands 66 minutes later. Despite the outrageous home advantage, it was always Italy’s game to lose and with a 33 game winning streak on the line, they showcased not only why they are the best team in Europe, but maybe even on the planet - something our young lions may one day possess (just not in the immediate future).   There were several major errors both on and off the pitch that ultimately cost the lions their first international trophy since 1966. In fact, England’s problems started long before any ball was placed on a penalty spot. After a scintillating 45 minutes ...
1 comment
Read more