Never in the history of football have two players dominated like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have over the past decade. They’ve shared the last nine Ballons d’Or, scored well over 1000 career goals between them and smashed record after record for club and country. They’ve quite simply transformed the game forever.

However, while Messi and Ronaldo’s exploits deserve to be celebrated and cherished, it must also be recognised that they have capitalised on a number of changes in the modern game.

Alterations to the laws of the sport have massively benefited attackers, particularly the evolution of the offside rule. Until 27 years ago, any player level with or ahead of the penultimate opponent was offside regardless of whether they were active or inactive.

But after witnessing a World Cup deprived of goals and exciting football in 1990, FIFA changed the laws to “protect attacking play intended to result in a goal”.

Firstly, the offside rule was tweaked so that players level with the penultimate opponent were deemed onside.