The bigger the Champions League has become, the greater the emphasis on the concept of 'clutch' has grown.
Nothing quite captures the imagination in the same way, or draws eyes quite like Europe’s showpiece. The World Cup is a global fiesta of football, but national teams can be short on tactical coherence, and the star performers are more evenly distributed. The Champions League is where the best truly strut their stuff in expensively assembled teams, without the strain of an entire season tensing up thighs and calves.
As such, it is not unusual to see objectively great players called into question on the basis of their record in the competition.