News

Sports

Football

The Messi-Ronaldo hyphen-age ends; one with a sunset, other in a sun-storm

Messi will fade sweetly into the night, and Ronaldo fitfully - bringing curtains down on the highest debate decibel in football of the last two decades

Lionel Messi on the left and Cristiano Ronaldo on the right. (FILE photo)

6 min read Nov 9, 2026 02:02 PM IST First published on: Nov 9, 2026 at 02:02 PM IST

When the opening bell of international football chimes this week, the sport would mourn the passing from the field of two immortals. The planet officially steps into the post-Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo era. When the national anthem blasts, nostalgia would crawl in, memories would gush forth, tears would be shed, and the men in No 7 and No 10 would look different.

For much of their century, Messi and Ronaldo embodied two opposing spectrums of the sport’s fascination to characterise its lead act.…