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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




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