Lionel Messi of Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal both bombed out of the 2018 World Cup during the knockout stage on Saturday, June 30.
Messi was first to be eliminated after Argentina suffered a 4-3 loss to France in Kazan. Ronaldo and Portugal followed suit four hours later after losing to Uruguay, 2-1.
The results for both countries were unexpected with Ronaldo just coming off another UEFA Champions League triumph with Real Madrid. Messi, for his part, led Barcelona to its 7th La Liga title in the past 10 years.
Ronaldo, Messi Both Failed To Deliver
However, Ronaldo and Messi both failed to deliver for their respective squads in the knockout stage. In 1,270 total minutes of play in the knockout rounds, Messi (eight games, 23 shots) and Ronaldo (six games, 25 shots) both failed to find the back of the net.
Argentina almost failed to make it to the knockout stage, but it advanced following a 2-1 win over Nigeria in the last day of the group stage. In their first two games, the Argentines settled for a 1-1 draw with Iceland and dropped a 3-0 loss to Croatia.
Portugal opened its campaign with a 3-3 tie with Spain, where Ronaldo tallied a hat-trick. Portugal followed it with a 1-0 win over Morocco, but a 1-1 tie with Iran dropped them to second in the group stage.
According to Arkady Dvorkovich, chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, the early exit of both Messi and Ronaldo, the biggest attraction in the sport, will certainly hurt the event. However, Dvorkovich says fans could look at other players, like Kylian Mbappe of France and Edinson Cavani of Portugal.
"Something will be lost, but something will be gained. Good thing that it happened on the same day," said Dvorkovich, referring to the exit of both Messi and Ronaldo on Saturday.
Mbappe, Cavani Shine
Mbappe made his presence felt against Messi as he scored in the 64th and 68th minute for France. The 19-year-old made history as the first teenager to score two goals in a World Cup match since Pele who did it for Brazil in a 1958 match against Sweden.
"I'm very happy, and it's flattering to be compared to a great player like Pele," Mbappe says. Mbappe was born a few months after France emerged as champion in the 1998 World Cup.
Antoine Griezmann and Benjamin Pavard also scored for France. Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, and Gabriel Mercado provided the points for Argentina.
Cavani, for his part, tallied a brace after scoring in the 7th and 62nd minute for Uruguay. Pepe scored for Portugal in the 55th minute.
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