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Cristiano Ronaldo went first, and 7 hours later, Lionel Messi adopted. Seven thousand miles, an ocean, a continent and a sea aside, on a wild Wednesday of soccer, the 2 biggest gamers within the historical past of the world’s hottest sport strode into champions league semifinals. They emerged from tunnels, and stepped onstage to bolster their eminence.

This, in fact, was the kind of stage on which they’d wowed the world and dueled for soccer’s throne. For a decade and a half, they lit up the European Champions League with 141 and 129 objectives, respectively, the . They lifted La Orejona, the trophy, a mixed 9 occasions. They spent days like Wednesday hovering into soccer lore, miles away from the numerous mortals chasing them.

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However on this Wednesday, in Saudi Arabia and South Florida, at 40 and 37 years outdated, Ronaldo and Messi of the Asian and North American Champions League equivalents.

And in between, whereas Ronaldo fumed and Messi waited, their successor made one more assertion.

Within the Champions League that Ronaldo and Messi have departed, at 17 years outdated, Lamine Yamal and bent tens of millions of minds across the globe.

In his one hundredth recreation for Barcelona, he scored his twenty second aim to go together with 33 assists, and the Messi comparisons accelerated into overdrive.

Lamine Yamal, 17, celebrates after scoring towards Inter Milan in a breakthrough efficiency. (Photograph by Jose Breton/Pics Motion/NurPhoto through Getty Photos)

(NurPhoto through Getty Photos)

At Yamal’s age, Messi had scored simply as soon as for Barcelona; Ronaldo had scored 5 occasions for Sporting Clube de Portugal.

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Messi didn’t make his one hundredth look till age 20, and even then, with a multi-year benefit, his 54 aim contributions have now been surpassed by the child who more and more appears just like the inheritor to his throne.

“I don’t need to examine myself with anybody, and even much less with Messi,” Yamal mentioned at a packed Tuesday press convention, his first as a professional. However 24 hours later, he made the comparisons inevitable. He left defenders within the mud and on the grass. He scored an outstanding aim.

He’s doing issues that no one his age has ever executed. He’s the most effective 17-year-old within the fashionable historical past of sports activities. He’s, proper now, in 2025 — with dental braces gleaming and blonde hair impressed by a Dragon Ball Z character — . He commonly evokes the sensation that Messi did all these years in the past, the sense that we, these fortunate sufficient to witness his rise, are watching one thing we’ll keep in mind for the remainder of our lives.

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And on Wednesday, extra so than ever earlier than, that one thing felt like a altering of the guard.

Ronaldo and Messi are each nonetheless kicking. Ronaldo, now at Al Nassr, is the Saudi Professional League’s high scorer. Messi, now at Inter Miami, is the . They continue to be the 2 hottest athletes on the planet.

However on Wednesday, they faltered.

Kawasaki Frontale, a mid-table membership from Japan, shocked Al Nassr within the ACL semis, and , boring his eyes into the bottom, shrugging his shoulders, shaking his head, looking out.

Seven hours later, the Vancouver Whitecaps . Messi, in a 5-1 mixture defeat, shanked a half-volley and floated in tame free kicks. He misplaced passes. He couldn’t fairly get balls out from beneath his toes. For a fourth straight recreation towards MLS opposition, he delivered neither a aim nor an help.

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As just lately as final summer season, he was arguably nonetheless a top-five participant in world soccer. Ronaldo, who’s two-and-a-half years older, had , however each retained peerless sway, partly as a result of . Kylian Mbappé has , however , and has now arguably . Final yr’s Ballon d’Or area was one of many weakest ever. The post-Ronaldo-Messi era, if something, has confirmed simply how exceptional these two megastars had been — and are.

Over the previous few months, nonetheless, the narrative has shifted. A yr in the past, there was a way that Ronaldo and Messi may by no means be equaled; now, there’s a teen who realistically might surpass them. He has an extended approach to go, and a number of accidents to keep away from, and a number of developmental leaps to make; however he’s, in a phrase, ridiculous.

And on Wednesday, as Ronaldo and Messi bowed out of spotlights, in a 10-hour span that felt each symbolic and vital, Yamal seized one which, sometime, may very well be simply as brilliant and massive.