Barcelona got knocked out of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday in a humiliating fashion as Liverpool trounced them 4-0 at Anfield to complete an epic 4-3 comeback to advance to their second straight final.
With Barcelona's exit, for the first time since 2014, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will feature in the Champions League final.
This was Messi's chance to continue the streak between the two and make his second final appearance in six years but he and his Barcelona mates failed to achieve their ovjective and the numbers in the streak remain heavily in favour of Ronaldo.
Since 2014, Real Madrid have won the Champions League four times and Ronaldo has been a prominent feature in all of them.
Real Madrid finally won the Decima under Carlo Ancelotti in 2014 and since then, barring the 2015 Barcelona win in the Champions League, Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo had dominated the European Cup.
Ronaldo has smashed almost every Champions League record and Real Madrid created history by winning a hat-trick of Champions League titles last year.
Barcelona's domestic success was constantly overshadowed by their fierce rival's European success. However, this season Real Madrid has been in shambles, both domestically and in Europe.
Real Madrid were knocked out by a young Ajax Amsterdam side from the Round of 16 and this was Barcelona's chance to completely outshine their rivals in their city.
The Champions League final is going to be held in Madrid. Messi and Co. must have been dreaming of lifting the coveted trophy in front of their rival fans but Liverpool dashed that hope on Tuesday night.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, could not inspire Juventus and they were also stunned by Ajax in the quarter-finals.
As Liverpool wait for their opponents in the final - either Tottenham Hotspur or Ajax - this is perhaps the end of an era - the Messi-Ronaldo era.
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