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Sports, in this case football, seem to operate in cycles and seasons. Every few years a new contender arises and tries to change the face of the game all around the world. This contender is usually on an individual basis - for instance, a new player trying to make his mark like Kylian Mbappe.
Sometimes however, this contender is a team; the recent rise of Manchester City, Tottenham, Napoli, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig and Borrusia Dortmund all come to mind as new age footballing giants. For every new contender a member of the old guard gives way, and here are a few huge footballing sides who have taken time in adapting to this new age.
Ajax
The four-time European champions were once the pioneers of new, exciting and innovative footballing styles in the continent. The concept of total football was central to their success in the continent as well as their dominance in the league. With arguably the best academy system in place, they were churning out world class stars every few years. Johan Cruyff, Denis Bergkamp, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkard and Marco Van Basten were just a few of the superstars at the club.
However recently, they seemed to have lost their way, becoming a selling club and letting go of the few stars they do manage to bring up. Getting to Europe is a challenge and the league is no longer theirs to take. They would hope to be back, but the road looks long and arduous with the current system that they have in place.
AC Milan
From Ajax we move on to the team they beat in that final in 1995, AC Milan. The seven-time champions of Europe were once the beacon of Italian football, and were the leading light as recently as 2010/11 when they won the Serie A. They boasted one of the most formidable starting elevens when they became European champions in 2007. Legends such as Ronaldo, Maldini, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Gattuso and their golden boy Kaka all lit up the world once.
Currently though, they are languishing in the Europa league and are nowhere near winning the Scudetto. They spent a huge £160 million on more than 10 players, trying to overhaul their team, but the plan did not work, like many of their other endeavours in recent times, perhaps due to desperation. Milan must concentrate on the talent in their own backyard, the academy, rather than spending a fortune on players from around the world. A team can't change overnight.
Liverpool
You would find it weird that such a good team, which is currently on the rise, is in this list. They are certainly on the up and might be English or European champions soon, but as it stands, and keeping in line with their extremely rich pedigree traditionally, this period is a lull in the story of the Red half of Merseyside.
The finals of Istanbul, Rome, Paris are all inspirations to this new look squad Klopp has managed to build up, and they'll want to try and repeat their heroics of the 2018 final.
The last trophy for this team was a League Cup in 2012, and this six year drought seems close to an end but to believe the scousers are the flag bearers of English football that they once were would be a wrong assumption.
Manchester United
Everyone knew that the retirement of Sir Alex would be a huge blow to this football club, but not many would have thought that it would send this club on a run of underwhelming campaigns, hastily taken managerial decisions and a string of signings which have failed to impress.
Jose Mourinho might argue that United have won trophies recently, but the feeling around the 'Theatre of Dreams' is one of hope rather than belief of doing well.
The Class of '92, the amazing treble of 1999 and the brilliant squad from 2007-2009 all seem a distant memory for a side who are struggling to get back the swagger that the club was associated with. Hopefully a solution is found and the famed Liverpool versus United rivalry is back at its best, entertaining us all.
