Something unexpected happened this weekend. For the first time in history, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score goals in two consecutive league games.
The Messi Ronaldo rivalry is always one of the highlights of the soccer season. For years the two titans have come at one another from a distance. Goals and titles were always their main means of doing battle. For years, Lionel Messi was the undisputed winner in both areas, but of late he has lagged a bit in the former department despite being the runaway winner in the latter.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi will compete for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In theory at least. Despite the three players being officially on the ballet, the reality is that only one player has any chance of winning the award this year.
His name? Lionel Messi.
Here is the rundown for why the Argentine is the frontrunner to win the award.
Neymar is one of the best players in the world today, and he is climbing up the all-time goal scoring list for Brazilians. Here, we list the top 10 goal scorers in Brazilian soccer history.
Neymar finished his season with Barcelona scoring 40 goals including tallies in the finals of the Copa del Rey and Champions League. He had the kind of year that is often considered legendary and seemed on his way to being a finalist for the 2015 Ballon d'Or.
The 2014-15 season will come to an end this weekend with the Champions League final. The summer festivities will then get underway with the Copa America and Euro Cup qualifiers.
The Ballon d'Or conversations will also get underway as a means of seeing which players have emerged at the halfway mark of the year. Here is an early preview with the nominees less than six months away from being announced.
Cristiano Ronaldo's season has been over for one week. Lionel Messi's will be over in just days. At this point, with the Champions League still to be determined it is a good time to compare what the two seasons have been like for the world's two best players.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi once again had an incredible season. The two are widely considered the best players in the world, and the best goal scorers of all-time. Latin Post lists the top 10 goal scorers in a La Liga season ever.
A year ago, Real Madrid took home two trophies, including the much vaulted 10th Champions League trophy.
One year later, this team is a shadow of itself and will walk away with no trophies on the campaign.
Where 2013-14 will remain in history, 2014-15 will be forgotten in ignominy.
And it is a shame, especially considering the 22 straight wins the team managed early in the season when it looked completely unstoppable.
So what went wrong? Why did Real Madrid tumble into mediocrity and fail at the biggest hurdle?
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo has been the best scorer of this La Liga season. His scoring has been so efficient that he could break Lionel Messi's record for most goals in a single season. With just three games left to play, it won't be easy. Let's break it down.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued their tremendous seasons with two big games this past week. Each player contested a Champions League contest and then sought a new way to lead their respective clubs to Spanish League glory.
