37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and 28-year-old Raphael Varane are set to miss out on Champions League football for the first time since they were 17 years of age next season.
This is after Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Everton on Saturday, which puts the Red Devils in a difficult position to qualify for Europe’s premier competition next season, with the Manchester club, sitting seventh in the league table.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane are heading for a first season without Champions League football since they were 17 years old.
9 European cups between them.
— The Tactical Times (@Tactical_Times) April 9, 2022
The Manchester club have been in and out of the competition since Alex Ferguson left back in 2013 but after a serious spending spree last summer, this would be a huge blow for the Red Devils.
Not only is this a setback for United but also for Ronaldo and Varane who are serial winners of the competition. The pair won the Champions League together four times at Real Madrid in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Ronaldo has been labelled Mr Champions League by fans for his exploits in the competition, as the Portuguese international is the all-time top scorer of the tournament and has scored the most goals in a single campaign in the 2013/14 winning season.
This could be the catalyst for the striker to leave Old Trafford in the summer, as it is unlikely that he will settle for a season outside of the competition, even at the age of 37.
As for United, this makes their job of closing the gap to Man City and Liverpool even harder, as it is another year without Champions League money and it will be harder to attract the biggest names in the sport.