When Liverpool won the competition in 2004-05, no superstar made it to the final eight.
For the first time since 2004-05, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will participate in the Champions League quarter-finals with their respective teams.
Messi and Barcelona were knocked out in the last 16 by PSG, who drew 1-1 with Barcelona on Wednesday to take the match 5-2 on aggregate.
The day before, Porto shocked Juventus and Ronaldo by winning the second leg in Turin after an exciting extra-time contest.
What happened in 2004-05?
Messi and Barcelona were eliminated by Chelsea in the last 16 the last time both superstars missed the last eight of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo was with Manchester United at the time, and the Red Devils were also defeated in the round of 16 by AC Milan.
Ronaldo has won the Champions League five times, while Messi has won it four times, the most recent of which was in 2014-15.
Barcelona end 13-year quarters streak
Barcelona also saw a long run of making the last eight come to an end on Wednesday, as both players ended a long run of reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Barcelona failed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2006-07, when they were defeated by Liverpool in the last 16 of the tournament.
The Blaugrana had reached the quarterfinals 13 years in a row, the longest such run in the competition’s history.
End of an era?
With Messi now 33 and Ronaldo now 36, many have speculated that the age of both players dominating the European scene has come to an end.
Two players in particular have emerged as potential successors to the dominating pair in this season’s Champions League.
PSG’s Kylian Mbappe scored four goals over the course of the two-leg tie, smashing Messi’s record as the youngest player to hit 25 Champions League goals.
Erling Haaland also scored four goals in Dortmund’s last-16 match against Sevilla, making him the youngest player in Champions League history with 20 goals.
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