3-3 in the first leg, 1-1 in the second leg, and 4-3 in the penalty shootout, Real Madrid eliminated the defending champion Manchester City and advanced to the semi-finals of this season's Champions League. After climbing over the mountain of Manchester City, Real Madrid have a good chance of winning the title. Because Real Madrid's next opponent Bayern, as well as the final opponent Paris or Dort, are not as strong as Manchester City, after defeating Manchester City, Real Madrid is very close to the 15th Champions League title in team history.
Real Madrid deserves to be the king of the Champions League, even without the superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, they can still become the best in the Champions League. On the other hand, Ronaldo, after leaving Real Madrid, had a major turning point in his career. Real Madrid is a god: selling a 33-year-old veteran to earn 117 million and winning 2 Golden Balls.
In the Champions League in the past 4 seasons, Real Madrid has reached the top 4, winning 1 championship trophy during the period, and Real Madrid is still the favorite to win the championship this season. Even without Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid still have Mr. Ballon d'Or in their squad. After Ronaldo left Real Madrid, Modric and Benzema won the Ballon d'Or successively. It's an indisputable fact that Real Madrid have a certain level of dominance in the Champions League and that their players are more likely to win the Ballon d'Or.
After Real Madrid sold Ronaldo for a transfer fee of 117 million euros, although Hazard, a historical parallel player, was introduced, Hazard's contribution to Real Madrid was pitiful, but Real Madrid was still Real Madrid, and it was still strong. But after losing the help of Real Madrid's platform, Ronaldo has been going downhill.
In his three years at Juventus, Ronaldo has only reached the last eight of the Champions League once and has been out of the round of 16 twice. After Ronaldo returned to Manchester United, he participated in the Champions League for one season and stopped in the round of 16. Repeatedly encountered Waterloo in the Champions League, and the lack of Real Madrid's influence also made Ronaldo lose the opportunity to win the Ballon d'Or, since Ronaldo left Real Madrid, he has never won the Ballon d'Or again. The two old Real Madrid teammates are kings, and Messi has also continued to exert his strength, winning 3 more Ballon d'Or awards, and is currently leading Ronaldo 8-5.
When Ronaldo played for Real Madrid, he won 5 Champions Leagues and 5-5 Messi in the Ballon d'Or. After bidding farewell to Real Madrid, Ronaldo's two honors have not been improved. If Ronaldo hadn't opted for a move in 2018, perhaps he could have led Messi 6-5 at the Ballon d'Or level. At that time, Barcelona was already in decline, Real Madrid had three consecutive Champions Leagues, and Ronaldo's career was more promising than Messi's at that time.
Unfortunately, the stubborn Ronaldo chose to take on other challenges and joined Juventus, which was the beginning of a career regression. Since then, seeing Messi's success, Ronaldo has broken the defense many times.