Is Ronaldo, Messi’s greatness hurting Juventus and Barcelona?

Eight UEFA Champions League (UCL) crowns, 12 La Liga titles, seven World Club Cups, eight Copa del Reys and eleven Balon D’Ors. Add over 1,400 goals sprinkled with 251 in the UCL and three FIFA Best Awards, these are jaw-dropping numbers shared by both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two ultra-monster footballers of our time.

These, and countless records, prove Ronaldo and Messi have monopolized football in the past 10 to 15 years. The pair have continued to receive the most attention on and off the pitch.

However, with Messi and Ronaldo now 33 and 35 years old respectively, are these once-in-a-lifetime talents’ insatiable ambition and egos beginning to hurt their clubs? Results of the past two seasons do indicate Juventus and Barcelona could be suffering overreliance on these aging stars.

Juventus, tired of Serie A monopoly and desperate for UCL glory, signed Ronaldo, the competition’s expert, in a €100 million-plus package in 2018. Barcelona, however, continue to joggle like clowns to make Messi happy and ensure he delivers in a team of eleven players.

The pair duly earned their god-like status among fans, pundits and fellow footballers alike not because they can do it all. They had an equally great supporting cast that helped them focus on the finishing touches: pildrivers, curlers, free kicks, overhead kicks, towering headers, and yes, penalty kicks.

Ronaldo, at Real Madrid, had the supply lines of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Ozil, Di Maria and Benzema while Messi also rolled with world-class players in Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Ronaldinho and Neymar, the perfect foil for the diminutive Argentinian’s magic that led Barcelona to unprecedented success during the tiki-taka movement.

While these talented individuals were at their best to make the duo’s stupendous talent shine brighter, many players were also victims of their success.

Higuain left Real Madrid and Juventus to Chelsea, Benzema had to abandon goalscoring to create spaces for the Portuguese marauder, while the duo of Di Maria, Ozil were chopped off to accommodate the changing style of Ronaldo. Paolo Dybala was almost sold but reinvented his game. Maneuvers for Messi started in recent years, but Bojan, Cristian Tello and Munir El Haddadi, all wonderkids like him, were ushered out, while Ibrahimovic and Eto’o suffered cruel fates.

Nowadays, Real Madrid, previously carried away by Ronaldo-fueled success, are just starting to recover from post-Ronaldo via a Zinedine Zidane-led reboot. Juventus, so fixated on the Ronaldo dream neglected a bloated, aged squad, and are beginning to feel the strain. The Old Lady of Turin have a squad packed with underwhelming grafters from free transfers. The board now finds itself in a position where it has to move some aged, top earners before meaningful transfer business can be done.

Similarly, poor management decisions have also rocked Barcelona to its core. A Messi-centric decision to hold on to glorious past resulted in big-money signings of Paco Alcacer, Malcom, Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann. However, these players have failed to gel while some are simply overpriced average players, and age has caught up with the experienced players.

Both clubs’ tactics in the past two seasons seem similar: give it to Messi/Ronaldo. This season, the tactics brought 31 and 37 goals for Messi and Ronaldo respectively, but the next highest — Dybala and Suarez — could not score half the duo’s tallies.

Check the statistics: No Champions League, Juventus crawled towards Serie A title and have lost three finals — including consecutive Super Cups. Barcelona also offered a feeble and unsuccessful Spanish La Liga title defence this season, lost Copa del Rey final last season, and were stunningly knocked out at its quarter-final stage this term. It was worse in the UCL after they were humiliated by Liverpool last season and demolished by Bayern Munich this season.

These do not only show overdependence but paint a gory picture of an ineffective and underperforming squad. Many outfield players have suffered, and more are suffering the insatiable ambitious thirst of both players.

Coaches have also not been spared. those who do not fit the duo’s pattern are ushered out of the club. Gerardo Martinez, Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien at Barcelona. For Ronaldo, Raphael Benitez was quickly sent packing by Real Madrid, while Maximilliano Allegri and Maurizio Sarri have hit the gallows since Ronaldo arrived at Juventus.

So, while Juventus lick their wounds after 25 years of no UCL glory, Barcelona try to tear down the house after the humiliation by Bayern. Both clubs should start preparing for life after Ronaldo and Messi and not taint the players’ unrivaled greatness on the field. Continued failure with the teams still built around them could be blamed more on their waning brilliance and less on lack of it throughout the team.

It is hoped that the arrival of Andrea Pirlo at Juventus and the coming of Ronald Koeman to Barcelona would usher in a new era at both clubs.