The Champions League provides the football world with great matches and top players season by season. This is one of the times where I say it gave us the occasional “reality check”we all have evaded, and it only took one game for us to see that the future has arrived.
A “One man Show” in Barcelona
When the Calendar was announced for the knockout stages of the European club tournament, the attention turned to the game between PSG and F.C. Barcelona. The long awaited matchup between Messi and Neymar would finally take place. Both teams with something to prove, on one side, the team who lost their greatness and was in need of revindication. While the other had to ratify that their appearance on last season’s final wasn’t a coincidence. Unfortunately, destiny once again interfered and had Neymar miss the game through ANOTHER INJURY. If you ask me, the ongoing run that the Brazilian has with injuries is very suspicious. One way or another the stage was set for Kilyan Mbapee to ratify his place at the top of world football.
The game started off with a disadvantage for the french team after they gave away a penalty. With F.C Barcelona improving, the game was against PSG, add Messi to the equation and it was mission impossible. The response, and first glance of Mbapee’s brilliance came quickly after a play inside the box from the superstar that left Pique and Lenglet static. It seemed like a new game had started, after that equalizing goal Barcelona was completely erased from the field. The second half will see PSG dominate the game against a non existent midfield, giving Mbapee room to destroy any man marking him. There was a momentt where he passed 3 players in midfield, by the end of the night he scored a hat- trick. His individual performance reached such magnitude, that many forgot to point out Barcelona’s critical flaws in another night to forget.
Mbapee made a statement in Barcelona, he’s far from his prime level and is definitely in line to win a Champions league trophy. It’s important to point out that the game could have seen the last games where Pique was in the starting line up. He was beaten morally and physically by Mbapee’s speed. The once solid Spain international had a terrible game where his weaknesses and lack of leadership were exposed. He was substituted, making his “untouchable” status a thing of the past. In a positive twist, this time the defeat didn’t fall on Messi, making his future with Barcelona come into speculation once again. Although, it is safe to say that Mbapee has a bright future ahead of him, let’s not forget that he’s already won a World Cup, and that alone sets him aside the rest of the upcoming players.
Erling Haalland sets the pace
There’s not much to add to this guy’s career, he took the football world by storm. He announced his arrival in the U-20 World Cup game that Norway played against Honduras, scoring 9 goals in the process. We could say that the rival was inferior given the circumstances, but his arrival to Borussia Dortmund cleared any doubts about his abilities. Haaland scored a hat trick in his debut game with the German club, from that point on his numbers have only increased. As I write this and having scored against Sevilla F.C. he has scored a total of 39 goals in 41games for Dortmund.
The numbers for both Mbapee and Haaland make them the reference for the upcoming generation of players. However, this doesn’t mean that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are finished, it just points out that it’s time to look at life beyond them. While it won’t be the same, the future seems to be in good hands.
FUTBOLMAESTRO 
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