On a day when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo faded, 17-year-old Lamine Yamal stepped into the void

Cristiano Ronaldo went first, and seven hours later, Lionel Messi followed. Seven thousand miles, an ocean, a continent and a sea apart, on a wild Wednesday of soccer, the two greatest players in the history of the world’s most popular sport strode into champions league semifinals. They emerged from tunnels, and stepped onstage to reinforce their eminence.

This, of course, was the type of stage on which they’d wowed the world and dueled for soccer’s throne. For a decade and a half, they lit up the European Champions League with 141 and 129 goals, respectively, the two best tallies ever. They lifted La Orejona, the trophy, a combined nine times. They spent days like Wednesday soaring into soccer lore, miles clear of the many mortals chasing them.

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But on this Wednesday, in Saudi Arabia and South Florida, at 40 and 37 years old, Ronaldo and Messi slumped out of the Asian and North American Champions League equivalents.

And in between, while Ronaldo fumed and Messi waited, their successor made yet another statement.

In the Champions League that Ronaldo and Messi have departed, at 17 years old, Lamine Yamal bamboozled Inter Milan and bent millions of minds around the globe.

In his 100th game for Barcelona, he scored his 22nd goal to go with 33 assists, and the Messi comparisons accelerated into overdrive.

At Yamal’s age, Messi had scored just once for Barcelona; Ronaldo had scored five times for Sporting Clube de Portugal.

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Messi didn’t make his 100th appearance until age 20, and even then, with a multi-year advantage, his 54 goal contributions have now been surpassed by the kid who increasingly looks like the heir to his throne.

“I don’t want to compare myself with anyone, and even less with Messi,” Yamal said at a packed Tuesday press conference, his first as a pro. But 24 hours later, he made the comparisons inevitable. He left defenders in the dust and on the grass. He scored a superb goal.

He is doing things that nobody his age has ever done. He is the best 17-year-old in the modern history of sports. He is, right now, in 2025 — with dental braces gleaming and blonde hair inspired by a Dragon Ball Z character — probably the best player in soccer. He regularly evokes the feeling that Messi did all those years ago, the sense that we, those lucky enough to witness his rise, are watching something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.

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And on Wednesday, more so than ever before, that something felt like a changing of the guard.

Ronaldo and Messi are both still kicking. Ronaldo, now at Al Nassr, is the Saudi Pro League’s top scorer. Messi, now at Inter Miami, is the reigning MLS MVP. They remain the two most popular athletes on the planet.

But on Wednesday, they faltered.

Kawasaki Frontale, a mid-table club from Japan, stunned Al Nassr in the ACL semis, and left Ronaldo on the brink of tears, boring his eyes into the ground, shrugging his shoulders, shaking his head, searching.

Seven hours later, the Vancouver Whitecaps sped past Inter Miami in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal. Messi, in a 5-1 aggregate defeat, shanked a half-volley and floated in tame free kicks. He misplaced passes. He couldn’t quite get balls out from underneath his feet. For a fourth straight game against MLS opposition, he delivered neither a goal nor an assist.

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As recently as last summer, he was arguably still a top-five player in world football. Ronaldo, who is two-and-a-half years older, had declined more sharply, but both retained peerless sway, in part because nobody had risen to claim their throne. Kylian Mbappé has flirted with it, but flopped in the Champions League, and has now arguably made Real Madrid worse. Last year’s Ballon d’Or field was one of the weakest ever. The post-Ronaldo-Messi generation, if anything, has proven just how remarkable those two megastars were — and are.

Over the past few months, however, the narrative has shifted. A year ago, there was a sense that Ronaldo and Messi might never be equaled; now, there’s a teen who realistically could surpass them. He has a long way to go, and a lot of injuries to avoid, and a lot of developmental leaps to make; but he is, in a word, ridiculous.

And on Wednesday, as Ronaldo and Messi bowed out of spotlights, in a 10-hour span that felt both symbolic and significant, Yamal seized one that, someday, could be just as bright and big.