Inter Miami are OUT of the Champions Cup and winless in five

Lionel Messi's first full season in MLS with Inter Miami is not going as smoothly as anticipated, despite the off-season addition of his former Barcelona running mate Luis Suarez.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner returned for Thursday's CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final second-leg against Monterrey after missing four games with a muscle injury.

But Messi could do little to stop his side crashing out of the competition following a 5-2 aggregate defeat. It looks to be a similar case for his longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia.

Like Messi, Ronaldo has maintained his stellar individual performance but major team success is proving difficult. Al-Nassr find themselves 12 points adrift of leaders Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League and they too have been eliminated from continental cup competition.

The late-career plight of this generation's two greatest footballers has been brought into focus and raises several questions. Perhaps above all else, what are they still doing it all for?

From the outset, it's important to acknowledge the difference in Messi and Ronaldo's campaigns. Miami are just eight games into a 37-match regular season that culminate in play-offs which will eventually decide the champion in October.

By contrast, the Saudi Pro League schedule and format functions like European leagues, with a campaign that runs from August to May and a victor decided by the team that accrues the most points after 34 games.

With this in mind, Messi's current predicament is hardly a disaster and certainly recoverable. This season he has six goals and three assists in seven appearances and it has been a similarly productive start for Suarez.

The Uruguayan became the latest former Barca star to join David Beckham's South