For the best part of the last decade, two names have dominated world football more than any others: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The great rivals have broken countless records, scored insane amounts of goals and have pushed each other all the way to greatness. There can be no question as to whether the duo belongs in the pantheon of football’s all-time greats anymore.
Also read: What happens to the world of football after Messi and Ronaldo retire?
Next season though is 2017/18. It’s a long way removed from when Messi and Ronaldo broke onto the scene as exciting young talent, and both men are now battle-scarred veterans of the game. Could it be that their age of dominance is finally coming to an end? Could next season be the one that isn’t dominated by the Argentine wizard at Barca and the Portuguese powerhouse of Madrid? Quite possibly, and here are five reasons why.
#1 Can Ronaldo’s body hold out at his age?
One of the points always brought up by the pro-Ronaldo camp is that his talent is perhaps not as natural as Messi’s – he’s had to work harder for what he’s got. That’s obviously a massively admirable trait, but could it potentially turn into a drawback? Ronaldo clearly works as hard, if not harder, than any other top footballer inside the gym. His body barely resembles that of his footballing peers and looks more like that of a natural bodybuilder.
Does he need all that muscle? I’m not so sure. He’s clearly a very physically strong player, but it also looks like he’s carrying excess muscle on what is a smaller frame, probably for aesthetic purposes.
It hasn’t caused him any issues thus far admittedly, but as he comes into the latter part of his career – he turns 33 in February – it could become a cause for concern. So much gym work – likely with a heavy strength and conditioning approach that could involve Olympic lifts – has been known to catch up with older athletes and injuries to worn joints like the knees and shoulders are not uncommon.
Ronaldo’s physical strength has always served him brilliantly but a bad muscular injury based on his age and the wear and tear on his body isn’t out of the realm of possibility. And if it were to happen next season, at the age of 32/33, then it wouldn’t be good at all.
#2 Messi still hasn’t signed a new contract
The worlds of Messi and Barcelona have become so intertwined in the last decade that it’s hard to imagine one without the other, despite plenty of wild transfer rumours throughout the years. That’s why it’s so odd to hear that Messi is currently at an impasse in contract negotiations with the club, having turned down an extension just last week.
That extension was reportedly worth around £29m a season, a huge amount that would place him at the very top end of the list of football’s highest earners. Quite why Messi has turned it down remains unknown. The likelihood is that he simply wants more money, but the unthinkable – Messi leaving Barca – is suddenly a distinct possibility, given his current deal runs out at the end of 2017/18.
This point could become moot in the next few weeks if Messi inks a new deal, but until then, speculation is going to continue to fly around over the Argentine legend’s future at the Nou Camp. And while he’s had another brilliant season, scoring 51 goals in all competitions thus far, such heavy speculation would surely weigh on his mind.
If he were to commit his future elsewhere, Messi’s dominance may well begin to wane.
#3 Ronaldo’s new position may prove to be a costly move
When Ronaldo first burst onto the scene at Manchester United back in 2003, he was seen as a right winger, as his dribbling skill, speed and passing ability made him a menace for any defence to deal with. As his career has progressed though, so has his best position – in his peak years at Real Madrid, for instance, he was deployed essentially as a free-roaming attacking midfielder/forward, drifting from the wings into the centre and vice versa, and obviously, it allowed him to score an unbelievable amount of goals.
This season though has seen another evolution in Ronaldo’s game as he seems to have settled into a role as a traditional centre-forward – or number 9 – for Real. While he’s had success in the role – most notably in games against Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich in the Champions League – it has raised a handful of questions. Does playing him through the centre make Madrid a less effective team, as it causes Karim Benzema – a more natural striker – to become marginalised?
More to the point, is it really the best use of Ronaldo? Admittedly, the lightning-quick pace he once had has waned now, making him less effective on the wing, but inside the box, it’s questionable whether he has the same predatory goalscoring instincts and movement as someone like Robert Lewandowski or Luis Suarez.
Indeed, the stats back it up – 2016/17 has been Ronaldo’s lowest scoring year – 37 goals – since his debut season in La Liga. It’s still a tremendous return but whether he can truly evolve into a central striker is a question mark leading into 2017/18.
#4 Barcelona are a team in flux
While Messi remains a great talent, capable of winning games almost by himself at times, a great player can only truly dominate in a great team. Barcelona have been a great team for the past decade but going into 2017/18 it looks like they could be in flux.
2016/17 is the final year on the contract of current manager Luis Enrique, and the Spanish legend has already announced that he won’t be sticking around past June 30th. In the past, Barcelona have been able to practically elevate from within the club – when Pep Guardiola left, his assistant Tito Vilanova was handed the job, and although Enrique was manager of Celta Vigo before Barcelona, by appointing him, it was still a case where Barca brought one of their own legends back into the fold.
Now though, Barca’s next manager seems to be a mystery. Current rumours suggest Athletic Bilbao’s Ernesto Valverde may take over, but nothing is confirmed and June 30th is edging closer.
Throw in the speculation surrounding the future of Neymar after a fallout with coach Juan Carlos Unzue, and there can be no denying that difficult times might be in store for Barcelona. And with difficulty for Barca comes difficulty for Messi – can he really dominate the way he has done previously in a team with an apparently shaky future?
#5 It’s World Cup year...and both could miss out
While club glory is all well and good, nothing really pulls at the heartstrings quite like international success. While Ronaldo has won the European Championships with Portugal and Messi reached the 2014 World Cup final with Argentina, neither man has truly lit up a World Cup in the way that the likes of Maradona, Zidane or Pele did. It’s the one thing their detractors seem to hang over them.
2018’s World Cup in Russia could well be the final chance for both men to prove themselves on the ultimate stage, given their advanced age now, but the scary part is that we might have a tournament without both of them.
Argentina are currently fifth in the South American qualification standings (of which four sides automatically qualify), one point behind Chile and Uruguay, but their performances have been shaky at best thus far – home losses to Ecuador and Paraguay stick out as especially bad, but an away loss to Bolivia in March wasn’t great either.
The fact that they still need to play Uruguay and Ecuador away means that incredibly, they could miss out.
Portugal meanwhile currently sit second in their qualifying group behind Switzerland; the Swiss beat them 2-0 in Basel and it’s that result that separates the two teams. Should neither team slip up against the other sides – Hungary, Latvia, the Faroe Islands and Andorra – if the Swiss could pick up a point in Portugal then Ronaldo’s men would be condemned to a play-off – a possible showdown with a side like Wales, Italy, or the Netherlands. No guarantees at all there.
Both Argentina and Portugal may still qualify but what if they don’t? In a World Cup year, it’d be hard to argue that the season could be dominated by two players who wouldn’t be able to star in the season’s biggest attraction.
