The 2022 World Cup marked the end of an era. And not because Lionel Messi finally plugged the only gap on his otherwise stellar CV, but because football's defining rivalry for the past two decades effectively ended on the biggest stage of all.
While Messi followed in the footsteps of Diego Maradona and inspired Argentina to their World Cup decades, Portugal thrived not because of Cristiano Ronaldo but without him.
While the Argentine consecrated himself as arguably the greatest footballer in history in Qatar, the Portuguese was dropped by the national side.
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