Watching Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo trudge wearily about their new surroundings this season has given a clear message that a game-changing era in football is at an end.
Ronaldo rocked up at Manchester United as the returning hero in August, but he now tends to neither score nor move all that often and decided the best course of treatment for a hip flexor problem on Manchester derby weekend was to spend several hours on a private plane.
As for Messi, there is an uncomfortable repeating theme for arguably the greatest player of all time in the autumn of his career. He stands, ashen-faced and helpless as a Champions League humiliation unfolds around him.
