Released in the knockout stages of the Champions League, respectively with Manchester United and PSG, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi could perhaps have better managed their end of career according to our consultant RMC Sport, Nicolas Anelka.
It is possibly the end of an era. For the second consecutive year, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were both eliminated in the round of 16 of the prestigious Champions League, respectively with Manchester United and PSG. The Red Devils were taken out by Antoine Griezmann’s Atlético, while the Parisians sank on the field of Real Madrid. It’s hard not to see the weight of the years for the Portuguese (37) and the Argentinian (34), even if the failure of their clubs cannot be entirely attributed to them.
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“They have made their careers and I think they are both satisfied with what they have produced for fifteen years, said Nicolas Anelka on Wednesday at “Rothen ignites” on RMC. I am more surprised by Messi than by Ronaldo. I thought that Messi was going to wander in the French championship and that Ronaldo was going to struggle a little more because the Premier League for me is a more difficult championship in terms of the impact on and around the pitch. I think that “There won’t be any more players like that who will dominate world football so much. They’ve been above everyone for fifteen years, it’s logical to see them slowing down. It’s normal.”
“We should have been a little smarter”
With 18 goals in 32 games played this season in all competitions, Ronaldo has little to be ashamed of on an individual level. Above all, he had to endure the insipid or even poor performances of some of his teammates, far from the level expected for a club like Manchester United. The situation is not the same for Messi. Seven months after his arrival with great fanfare in Paris, the sevenfold Ballon d’Or still does not convince, to the point of reaping the whistles of the Parc des Princes (last Sunday against Bordeaux). So were Ronaldo and Messi wrong to change clubs?
“That’s what happened to all the footballers who wanted to ‘stay on the pitch too long’. difficult. ” But I thought Messi was going to walk around. This is not the case. You have to make the right decisions to finish on top. There are players who did not hesitate to say stop at 32-33- 34 years old to finish at the top and not be criticized. I stopped at 36 but I left for China at 32″, underlined Anelka, consultant for RMC Sport, at “Rothen ignites”.
As announced by RMC Sport, Messi has no intention of leaving PSG during the next summer transfer window. He still dreams of winning a European title there despite everything that is said about his future. As for Ronaldo, he signed for two years, with an optional third, and the Red Devils will have to show him that they are capable of shining again at the highest European level.
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