5 Changing in Football world after Messi and Ronaldo retirement

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have reshaped the world of football. For the past 10 years, the honor of best footballer in the world award a Messi-Ronaldo face-off, with other footballers simply attending the party out of courtesy and to pose for photographs. For younger fans, football without Messi and Ronaldo feels quite strange – as if such a time has never existed, and never will.

When we talk about them a few years later, it will not be about a dazzling display from the previous night, but a fond reminiscence of the sheer pride and honor of having witnessed the greatest football rivalry of all time with our own eyes.

Yes, Messi and Ronaldo will retire, leaving a void that will never be replaced by anything like it. But what will happen to football then? What happens to the world of football when Messi and Ronaldo retire? We made a critical analysis for that.

Neymar and Mbappe would replace the throne as the best player in the world

Neymar and Mbappe can be the suitable contenders for the replacement of football giants Messi and Ronaldo after their retirement. Derided in several quarters for his tendency to dive and showboat, the Brazilian nonetheless remains the most likely contender to inherit the throne of the best player in the world.

Other notable names include Antoine Griezmann, Gareth Bale, and Pogba, or, if you were to step down one generation further, Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, and Gabriel Jesus. But as it stands, if you were to put your money on it, one would most certainly back Neymar – amidst all the nostalgia of missing Messi and Ronaldo, one can't help but wonder when Neymar will finally seize the coveted Ballon d'Or from the famous  duo.

Barcelona and Juventus's grip on European football would be loosen

Barcelona and Real Madrid have ruled the world of football in last decade. 5 of the last 8 Champions League titles have gone to Barcelona or Real Madrid – thus establishing themselves as the two best club football teams on the planet over the last decade.

It is easy to see that the presence of the two best players in the world has directly contributed to their sustained dominance. We have witnessed that when Ronaldo left Real Madrid than the Spanish giant crumbled badly  

So once Messi and Ronaldo retire, Barcelona will be affected because there is no replacement of the Argentinean so far and Juventus will be lacking a world class striker.  

Argentina and Portugal would be in trouble

We have seen that Lionel Messi's recent four-match suspension for swearing at a match official has cast a big shadow on Argentina's international stats. There is a universal recognition of the reliance that Argentina has on Messi. 

Having been criticized in the past for underwhelming performances at the national level, Messi has responded to his critics with great performance in WC 2014 and Copa America 2016. Argentina will have a huge void to fill when Messi retires – as was demonstrated by the outcry over the captain's retirement after Copa America 2016 and his subsequent return.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, has always been a national hero – perhaps never more so than when he scored two goals in three minutes against Sweden in the 2014 WC playoffs to lead his team to Brazil.

The passion Ronaldo has for his country is also the stuff of legends; anyone who has seen the sight of a tearful Ronaldo leaving the field injured after 23 minutes in the Euro 2016 final would agree to his pride and honor of wearing the Portugal jersey. Ronaldo also helped Portugal to win first ever UEFA Nations league. 

With no clear replacement as a successor to Ronaldo, Portugal's future after his retirement remains hazy.

Football statisticians will have time to breathe

If you have been employed as a football statistician/record keeper over the past decade, we football fans feel for you – we really do.

Messi and Ronaldo have made existing records obsolete almost on a weekly basis – most goals scored in La Liga (Messi) vs most goals scored in Champions League (Ronaldo); most goals scored in club competitions in a calendar year (Messi; 79 in 2012) vs most international goals in a calendar year (Ronaldo; 25 in 2013); Argentina's all-time top goal scorer vs Portugal's all-time top goal-scorer; the list goes on and on.

When these two retire, perhaps a few football statisticians can retire as well – and finally get the time to go home and meet their family after years!

There will be thousands of articles written; millions of tweets doing the rounds; myriad eulogies uttered – but finally, at the end of it all, football will move on. Just as football moved on from Maradona and Pele, from Zidane and Ronaldinho, from Maldini and Nesta, again the show must simply go on – and it will.

That is when the magic of nostalgia will start to take hold – as good as Zidane and Ronaldinho were, it is debatable whether they were as good as our biased and nostalgic memories tell us.

In a similar way, we will tell our younger generations stories of Messi and Ronaldo; stories that captivate them and motivate them, stories that won't be out of a place in a fantasy fiction thriller; stories that will help us keep perspective of how insanely good they were.

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