The end of an era: for the first time in 21 years, neither Cristiano nor Messi are nominated for the Ballon d’Or

Without a doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi It is the best rivalry in the history of football, since both players were decisive for the Real Madrid y Barcelonarespectively, delivering great games every time they faced each other and surpassing themselves, as long as the other did not score more goals, assists or win more titles than the other.

This great rivalry began on April 23, 2008 in a duel for Champions League between Barcelona y Manchester United in the semifinals and that series would be won by the English team, reaching the final and winning it against the Chelsea in Moscow. However, the only final of this tournament in which they have faced each other would be a year later and with a great header goal, Lionel Messi immortalized himself and raised the ´Orejona´.

Both players have been at the top of football for two decades, being the best rivalry in the history of sport in general, surpassing others such as Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier in boxing, Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson in basketball or Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal in tennis, but this glorious era has come to an end.

Con ´El Bicho´ in the league of Arabia y ´The Flea in the of USAboth players have been excluded from the 30 finalists for the Ballon d’Or, a quote that has not been missing in the last 21 years, being an achievement never seen before, showing that both are out of this world and that they always gave everything for the foot ball and now his retirements are closer than ever.

The last time without ´CR7´ and ´Leo´

The last time the two were not nominated for the Ballon d’Or It was in the 2003 award, the winner being the Czech Pavel Nedvedsecondly the French Thierry Henryin the third the Italian Paolo Maldiniin fourth the Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko (who would be the winner of the award a year later) and in fifth place was the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane.

The golden age

In 2007 Kaka would beat him Ballon d’Or to the Portuguese and Argentine, so that from 2008 to 2017 they shared the prize between them, with the winner being ´El Bicho´ in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, while ´La Pulga´ He would win it in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023, being the highest winner of this award, although the 2010, 2021 and 2023 awards were quite controversial, as they should have won Andres Iniesta, Robert Lewandowski and in 2023 Erling Haaland o Kylian Mbappé. With this, the greatest rivalry in the history of sports has come to an end and a magical time for all football fans who enjoyed this spectacular rivalry.